The effects of storage of red blood cells on the development of postoperative infections after noncardiac surgery

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Prolonged storage of red blood cells (RBCs) is a potential risk factor for postoperative infections. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of age of RBCs transfused on development of postoperative infection. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: In thisprospective, double-blind randomized trial, 199 patients undergoing elective noncardiac surgery and requiring RBC transfusion were assigned to receive nonleukoreduced RBCs stored for not more than 14 days ("fresh blood" group, n 5 101) or for more than 14 days ("old blood" group, n 5 98). The primary outcome was occurrence of infection within 28 days after surgery; secondary outcomes were postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI), in-hospital and 90-day mortality, admission to intensive care unit, and hospital length of stay (LOS). As older blood was not always available, an "as-treated" (AT) analysis was also performed according to actual age of the RBCs transfused. RESULTS:The median [interquartile range] storage time of and 15 [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] days in fresh blood and in old blood groups, respectively. The occurrence of postoperative infection did not differ between groups (fresh blood 22% vs. old blood 25%; relative risk [RR], 1.17; confidence interval [CI], 0.71-1.93), although wound infections occurred more frequently in old blood (15% vs. 5%; RR, 3.09; CI,). Patients receiving older units had a higher rate of AKI (24% vs. 6%; p < 0.001) and, according to AT analysis, longer LOS (mean difference, 3.6 days; CI, 0.6-7.5).CONCLUSION: Prolonged RBC storage time did not increase the risk of postoperative infection. However, old blood transfusion increased wound infections rate and incidence of AKI. Immunosuppression induced by surgery and anesthesia may be aggravated by transfusion. 9 Most studies in trauma and cardiac surgery reported that prolonged RBC storage was a risk factor for postoperative infections after cardiac surgery, 10-12 but the same association was not found in liver transplantation 13 or orthopedic surgery. 14 A recent systematic review 15 that analyzed four trials which investigated the nosocomial infections, showed no benefits in receiving fresh RBCs. However, the authors reported that the results are difficult to interpret because the studies involved different populations and there were considerable differences in the length of storage of fresh and old blood and in study methods. 15To our knowledge, the association of age of RBCs with infections in noncardiac surgery population has not been investigated by double-blind randomized studies. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between RBC storage time and postoperative infection after elective noncardiac surgery. In addition, we evaluated the effects of the age of RBCs on other outcomes such as postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI), hospital length of stay (LOS), and 90-day mortality. MATERIALS AND METHODS Study populationThis prospective, randomized, controlled, double-blind clinical trial was conducted between August 2...

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