Use of plasma products with whole blood and packed RBCs

During the past five years, there has been a sharp increase in the use of packed RBCs (PRBCs) and plasma products, whereas whole blood (WB) transfusions have steadily decreased. In order to determine whether plasma and its derivatives were being used to "reconstitute" whole blood from PRBCs, we performed a retrospective evaluation of all transfusion episodes in ten representative regional hospitals during a five-month period. Our results indicate that PRBCs were transfused 2.5 times more frequently than WB. Plasma products were administered with PRBCs less often than with WB: 14% of all PRBCs vs 24% of all WB units tranfused. The likelihood of a patient receiving plasma was found to correlate with the total amount of blood transfused and the frequency of transfusion. This study provides evidence that, at most, only a small percentage of PRBCs are given in conjunction with plasma as "reconstituted" WB.