Comprehensive Evaluation of Blood Product Transfusions Administered in the Emergency Department

Objective: It was aimed to evaluate the clinical and laboratory findings, the frequency and distribution of post-transfusion complications of patients who presented to the emergency department with a transfusion indication.
Material and Methods: In our study, patients aged 18 years and over who applied to the emergency medicine clinic between January 01, 2019 and March 31, 2019, who had blood and blood product transfusions, were retrospectively analyzed. The demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients, the reason for transfusion, the number of transfused blood products, the presence and type of complications were analyzed.
Results: Three hundred and sixty-eight patients who received blood and blood product transfusions were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 62.5±19.3 years (range 18-96 years), 193 (52.4%) were female and 175 (47.6%) were male. The most common causes of transfusion were symptomatic anemia in 110 patients (29.9%), oncological diseases in 71 patients (19.3%), gastrointestinal bleeding in 65 patients (17.7%), and chronic renal failure patients in 59 (16%) patients. No post-transfusion complication was observed in 358 (97.3%) patients for all blood products. Multiple erythrocyte suspension (ES) data revealed significant variation in hemoglobin and hematocrit levels among patients (p=0.001). Additionally, a significant difference was found in the international normalized ratio because of administering more than one unit of fresh frozen plasma (FFP) (p=0.002). Complications were observed in 2.9% of patients given ES and 1.9% of patients given FFP, whereas none of the patients given thrombocyte suspension developed.
Conclusion: The appropriate use of blood and blood products in the emergency department plays a critical role in preventing patient morbidity and mortality. Performing the transfusion procedure in the correct indication is important in preventing the risk of infection in the emergency department.

Keywords: Blood transfusion, red blood cells, blood product, hemoglobin, emergency department