VER THE PAST DECADE, SEVeral studies have suggested that blood transfusions depress immune function in recipients. 1,2 Evidence of transfusion-associated immune suppression emerged following observations that blood transfusions improved renal allograft survival 3 and accelerated 4 and increased postoperative infections. 5 A recent randomized controlled trial undertaken to examine infections in cardiovascular surgical patients found an approximately 4.2% absolute decrease in mortality but no decrease in

The frequency of reactions to plasma-removed platelets and prestorage WBC-reduced platelets was not significantly different; however, the power of the study for this comparison was low. There was no difference in the frequency of reactions to the two types of prestorage WBC-reduced platelets. The frequency of severe reactions to prestorage WBC-reduced platelets is low, occurring in only 1 to 2 percent of transfusions.

A simple and valid prediction rule is developed for predicting the risk of blood transfusion in patients undergoing first-time elective CABG surgery.