Factors influencing blood transfusion during adult liver transplantation

From 1982 to 1990, 300 adults received liver transplants in Birmingham UK with a median intraoperative blood transfusion rate of 23.5 units for the first 50 patients falling to 8 units for the last 50. The major factors in the reduction of blood usage were the experience of the team, the use of venovenous bypass and the use of an argon beam coagulator. Univariate analysis of preoperative factors in an attempt to predict patients at risk of excessive intraoperative transfusion showed that levels of serum sodium, urea, creatinine, haemoglobin, patient weight and the presence of ascites were significantly related to the quantity of blood transfused, although stepwise discriminant analysis showed that only blood urea and platelet count had an independent association with transfusion. The final model was poorly predictive of intraoperative transfusion requirements. Technical factors rather than patient-related factors are more important in the control of intraoperative bleeding in newly established transplant programmes.