Transfusion of Fresh Frozen Plasma in Critically Ill Patients: Effective or Useless?

Fresh frozen plasma (FFP) is widely used in critically ill patients to correct the deficiency of coagulation factors or increased INR.

In the present study we aimed to evaluate the outcome of the freshly frozen plasma use as prophylaxis in ICU patients before an invasive procedure.

The study was conducted at Central Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Service UHCT "Mother Theresa", Tirana. 136 patients were enrolled with coagulopathy with no bleeding before the invasive procedure, from June 2016 to December 2016. A group of 75 patients underwent a median volume of 12.5 ml/kg FFP given, and 61 had no transfusion. Data were collected on demographics, the severity of illness measured by APACHE III scores, INR, medication use, hemodynamic data.

From 136 patients with coagulopathy with no bleeding who underwent planned invasive interventions, 75 [55%] received FFP, vs 61 [45%] p = 0.04 who did not receive. Overall, the median FFP dose was 12.5 ml kg-1. Median INR level in FFP and non-FFP groups was respectively 3.1 (1.9-4.8) and 3.5 (1.8-5.2). INR was corrected in 24 of 75 (32%) of those who received a transfusion. The frequency of minor bleeding episodes was 9.3% in transfused patients vs 4.9% in the non-transfused group. Patients who developed an onset of acute lung injury were more frequent in the FFP group. No allergic transfusion complications were observed. Also, the median length of hospital stay [LOS] was 3.05 days vs 2.91 days and mortality rate 8.2% vs 6.5% with no significant difference between two groups.

Freshly frozen plasma transfusions are often unnecessarily administered during an inadequate correction of the deficiencies of coagulation factors. When comparing a liberal FFP transfusion strategy vs restrictive other clinical trials are required to asses which one is the best to adopt in intensive care settings.