Transfus Med Hemoth
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Transfus Med Hemoth · Apr 2014
Red blood cell storage duration is associated with various clinical outcomes in pediatric cardiac surgery.
Recommendations on the use of fresh red blood cells (RBCs) in pediatric patients undergoing cardiac surgery are based on limited information. Furthermore, the RBC storage time cut-off of fresh units remains unknown. ⋯ The obtained results indicate that the hazard of blood transfusion increased with increasing storage time of RBCs. The results of this study suggest that transfusion of fresh RBCs with a storage time of ≤2 or 4 days (concerning transfusion requirements) or ≤6 days (concerning postoperative morbidity) may be beneficial in pediatric patients undergoing cardiac surgery. However, further prospective randomized studies are required in order to draw any final conclusions.