Liberal Transfusion Strategy May Avert Unfavorable Neurological Outcome
FRIDAY, Oct. 11, 2024 -- For patients with acute brain injury, a liberal transfusion strategy is associated with a lower risk for having an unfavorable neurological outcome, according to a study published online Oct. 9 in the Journal of the American Medical Association to coincide with the annual congress of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, held from Oct. 5 to 9 in Barcelona, Spain.
Fabio Silvio Taccone, M.D., Ph.D., from the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Brussels, and colleagues examined the impact of two different hemoglobin thresholds to guide red blood cell transfusions on neurological outcome in patients with acute brain injury in a trial conducted in 72 intensive care units across 22 countries. A total of 850 patients were randomly assigned to undergo a liberal or restrictive transfusion strategy over a 28-day period (transfusions triggered by hemoglobin <9 or <7 g/dL, respectively [408 and 442 patients]).
The liberal and restrictive transfusion strategy groups received a median of two and zero units of blood, respectively. The researchers found that 62.6 and 72.6 percent of patients in the liberal and restrictive strategy groups, respectively, had unfavorable neurological outcome at 180 days after randomization (adjusted relative risk, 0.86). Across prespecified subgroups, the effect of transfusion thresholds on neurological outcome at 180 days was consistent. Overall, 8.8 and 13.5 percent of patients in the liberal and restrictive strategy groups, respectively, had at least one cerebral ischemic event (relative risk, 0.65).
"Our findings substantially expand the existing evidence in relation to transfusion thresholds for patients in the intensive care unit with an acute brain injury," the authors write.
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Read this next
Lung Cancer Screening Beneficial to Age 80 for Candidates Fit for Surgery
FRIDAY, Sept. 12, 2025 -- People aged 75 to 80 years at last screen who are diagnosed with screen-detected lung cancer (LC) have lower overall survival, but those undergoing...
Sex Differences Seen in Characteristics, Course of Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder
FRIDAY, Sept. 12, 2025 -- Significant sex differences are seen in the characteristics and course of schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD), according to a study published...
Potentially Inappropriate Medications Linked to Frailty at Cancer Diagnosis
FRIDAY, Sept. 12, 2025 -- For patients with newly diagnosed cancer, an increasing number of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs), as identified by the Geriatric Oncology...
More news resources
- FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts
- Daily MedNews
- News for Health Professionals
- New Drug Approvals
- New Drug Applications
- Drug Shortages
- Clinical Trial Results
- Generic Drug Approvals
Subscribe to our newsletter
Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.