Abstract

PARDO, Juan Mauricio; PANQUEVA MARTINEZ, Uriel  and  ESPINOSA, Ángela Fernanda. Breaking a myth in postransfusion control of hemoglobin/hematocrit. Acta Med Colomb [online]. 2010, vol.35, n.1, pp.3-7. ISSN 0120-2448.

Measurement of hemoglobin/hematocrit is usually carried out 6 hours after transfusion, as a parameter allowing the assessment of therapeutic result. However, there is no clear evidence to support this practice. Objective: to determine the concordance of the levels of hemoglobin/hematocrit 15 minutes after termination of transfusion, with regard to those measured 6 hours after the procedure, in patients with chronic anemia and without active bleeding, hemolysis, or hypersplenism. Materials and methods: an observational, analytic, concordance study was carried out in order to analyze the concordance between 2 measurements of hemoglobin/hematocrit: 15 minutes after transfusion and 6 hours after transfusion. This was done in 41 diagnosed with anemia of medical origin, without active bleeding. Results: a highly significant concordance was found between hemoglobin at 15 minutes and 6 hours after transfusion (p<0.0001), with an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.8793 (IC 95: 0.7817, 0.9349); highly significant concordance was also found between hematocrit at 15 minutes and 6 hours after transfusion (p<0.0001), with an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.8456 (IC 95%: 0.7301, 0.9144). Conclusions and discussion: although it is common practice to determine hemoglobin/hematocrit 6 hours after transfusion (without supporting evidence reported in the literature), this study found a high, significant correlation between measurements carried out at 15 minutes and 6 hours after transfusion in patients with anemia of medical origin. Immediate measurement saves time in clinical decisions (Acta Med Colombiana 2010; 35: 2-7).

Keywords : blood transfusion; monitoring; therapeutic misestimetion.

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