Patient blood management in Europe.

Area of Science:

• Anesthesiology
• Transfusion Medicine
• Surgical Patient Care

Background:

• Preoperative anemia is prevalent in major surgery, increasing risks of mortality, morbidity, and transfusion needs.
• Red blood cell (RBC) transfusion for perioperative anemia has clinical and economic drawbacks, driving interest in patient blood management (PBM).
• PBM utilizes multidisciplinary, multimodal strategies to minimize RBC transfusions and improve patient outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review current patient blood management (PBM) practices in Europe.
• To provide recommendations for the wider implementation of PBM strategies in European healthcare.
• To focus on anemia management as a key component of PBM.

Main Methods:

• Review of current PBM practices across European healthcare systems.
• Analysis of PBM's three pillars: anemia management, blood loss reduction, and coagulopathy management.
• Focus on the first pillar: optimizing preoperative and perioperative anemia management.

Main Results:

• PBM implementation is encouraged globally by the World Health Assembly.
• PBM is established in some centers in the USA, Austria, Western Australia, and nationally in the Netherlands.
• A need exists for wider integration of PBM strategies into routine European surgical care.

Conclusions:

• Wider implementation of PBM in Europe is crucial for reducing unnecessary transfusions.
• Integrating PBM improves the quality of care for surgical patients.
• Focusing on anemia management is a critical first step in PBM adoption.