“…One would anticipate that as aprotinin use decreased, the need/use of red blood cells (RBC), platelets (PLT), fresh frozen plasma (FFP), etc., would increase. This practice, however, may be trading one set of risks (aprotinin) for another (blood products, increased risk of reoperation for bleeding), as emerging evidence indicates that administering blood products to patients undergoing cardiac surgery adversely affects outcome [9] and decreasing use of full-dose aprotinin may increase risk of reoperation for excessive bleeding, thus increasing mortality [10,11].…”