Blood transfusion practices in liver transplantation

Blood loss and blood transfusion have been inherently associated with liver transplantation. Bleeding has been attributed to the various factors which are associated with chronic liver dysfunction. Various surgical and anaesthetic strategies have been developed over the years to reduce bleeding and also to optimise the usage of various blood and blood products perioperatively. The present day success of liver transplantation can be attributed to these issues where transfusion practices have changed. Although several centres are successfully performing liver transplantations in large numbers, there is still a large variability in the usage of blood and blood products perioperatively among the institutions and even among different anaesthesiologists from the same institution. The present article deals with the various factors confounding this concept of blood transfusion practices and the various strategies adopted to reduce the transfusion requirements in the perioperative period.