Commentary
Anemia, red blood cell transfusion, and outcomes after severe traumatic brain injury
1 Department of Surgery, University of Calgary, Intensive Care Unit Administration, Ground Floor McCaig Tower, Foothills Medical Centre, Room 0446, 3134 Hospital Drive Northwest, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 5A1
2 Department of Community Health Sciences (Division of Epidemiology), University of Calgary, Intensive Care Unit Administration, Ground Floor McCaig Tower, Foothills Medical Centre, Room 0446, 3134 Hospital Drive Northwest, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 5A1
3 Department of Critical Care Medicine, University of Calgary, Intensive Care Unit Administration, Ground Floor McCaig Tower, Foothills Medical Centre, Room 0446, 3134 Hospital Drive Northwest, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 5A1
4 Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Calgary, Intensive Care Unit Administration, Ground Floor McCaig Tower, Foothills Medical Centre, Room 0446, 3134 Hospital Drive Northwest, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 5A1
Critical Care 2012, 16:154 doi:10.1186/cc11489
See related research by Sekhon et al., http://ccforum.com/content/16/4/R128
Published: 14 September 2012Abstract
In the previous issue of Critical Care, Sekhon and colleagues report that mean 7-day hemoglobin concentration <90 g/l was associated with increased mortality among patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). The adverse relationship between reduced hemoglobin concentrations and outcomes among those with TBI has been an inconsistent finding across available studies. However, as anemia is common among adults with severe TBI, and clinical equipoise may exist between specialists as to when to transfuse allogeneic red blood cells, randomized controlled trials of liberal versus restricted transfusion thresholds are indicated.
