Perioperative blood transfusion is a risk factor for poor outcome after liver resection. Blood conservation methods should be used to avoid transfusion, especially in patents currently requiring limited amounts of transfused blood products.

No abstract

Preoperative factors can be combined into risk profiles to predict the likelihood of transfusion during or after elective liver resection. These predictions, easy to calculate in the frame of a nomogram or of a transfusion score, can be used to identify patients who are at high risk for red cell transfusions and therefore most likely to benefit from blood conservation techniques.

For patients undergoing major liver resection, ANH is safe, effectively reduces the need for allogeneic transfusions, and should be considered for routine use. Given the modest transfusion rate in the STD arm, future efforts should attempt to target ANH use to patients most likely to benefit.

Perioperative blood transfusion is a risk factor for poor outcome after liver resection. Blood conservation methods should be used to avoid transfusion, especially in patents currently requiring limited amounts of transfused blood products.