A review comparing restrictive versus liberal transfusion for burn trauma patients

What is it about?

Patients with burn trauma are vulnerable to anaemia due to loss of blood during various procedures as well as due to the burn itself. To tackle this, red blood cell transfusion is important for burn trauma patients. However, when the transfusion is given liberally without constraint, there are increased risks of adverse effects, and safe blood supply is limited especially in low-to-middle income countries. Recent studies explored how restricting transfusion by giving it only when the patient's haemoglobin level reaches a certain threshold might be more beneficial, but the effectiveness and safety are still unclear. Therefore, this review was made assessing restrictive compared to liberal transfusion for burn trauma patients.

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Photo by Aman Chaturvedi on Unsplash

Photo by Aman Chaturvedi on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This is the first review that provides insight towards the effectiveness of restrictive compared to liberal transfusion for burn trauma patients. The results showed that restrictive is non-inferior in terms of reducing deaths and the occurrence of sepsis (infection that leads to overwhelming and life-threatening body reaction) compared to liberal transfusion. This is important since it supports that restrictive transfusion can be considered as an option for daily practice when treating burn trauma patients.