Introduction:

since the beginning of blood banks, refinements in laboratory processes have allowed longer red blood cell storage times. While advantageous to the logistics of stock management, the clinical impact of RBC storage duration prior to transfusion remains uncertain and a topic of growing interest. Although the structural, biochemical, and impermeable changes that red blood cells undergo during storage are well described, the evidence that this storage injury translates into adverse clinical outcomes for patients receiving blood with longer storage times remains controversial.

Objective:

to compare the efficacy of the transfusion of globular packages of ≤ 15 days of extraction vs. globular packages ≥ 16-40 days of extraction in the hemodynamic and gasometric repercussion of patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit of HE CMNO.

Material and methods:

a controlled, single-center, randomized, single-blind, prospective and comparative clinical trial was conducted, where patients between 18 and 80 years of age with severe postoperative cranioencephalic trauma who required blood transfusions were invited to participate. Participants were included in two random groups, group F and group E. Group F was administered packed cells ≤ 15 days of extraction. Group E will be administered globular packages ≥ 16-40 days of extraction. During the study, various hemodynamic and biochemical variables were measured before, during, and after blood transfusion, and a comparison of the results obtained between groups F and E was subsequently made.

Results:

in the present study, a total of 26 patients with severe TBI were included and who were transfused with red blood cell packs, of the total number of patients, 13 were transfused with a «standard» red blood cell pack and another 13 patients with a «fresh» red blood cell pack. The average days of transfusion after extraction were 18 and 14 days for the «standard» and «fresh» packs, respectively (p ≤ 0.001). Twenty-one infectious events were reported, 11 in the group of patients who were transfused with the standard pack and 10 in the fresh pack group. Mortality at 28 days was estimated in 31% of the patients transfused with the standard pack and in 23% of the patients with the fresh pack (RR, for 28-day mortality of 0.90 [95% CI 0.56-144]). The median duration time in the intensive care unit was 8 days for both groups (0.32 SD), and of the days associated with the ventilator, 15 days were observed for the group of patients with the standard package and 7 for the group with fresh package (0.60 SD), without discovering statistically significant differences in these variables. However, in this analysis statistically significant differences were found for the gasometric parameters of central venous oxygen saturation, cardiac output (Fick) and lactate before and after transfusion in favor of the group of patients transfused with fresh pack (p ≤ 0.05).

Conclusion:

the results of this study infer that there is no association between the storage time of transfused red blood cells and the presence of adverse clinical outcomes with longer storage times. In both groups, transfusions were equally safe and effective. The researchers refer to the sample size as a limitation for this study.

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