Resumo

SERRANO VALDES, Xenia. Risk of blood transfusion in cardiac surgery. Arch. Cardiol. Méx. [online]. 2006, vol.76, suppl.2, pp.86-91. ISSN 1665-1731.

Bleeding occur frequently in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Although unexpected bleeding after this surgery is common, reducing this bleeding is a desirable clinical goal, because such bleeding is associated with adverse outcomes. Bleeding during and after cardiac operations and the hemodilution effects of cardiopulmonary bypass commonly result in blood transfusions. Despite institutional efforts to curtail the frequency of blood transfusions in cardiac operation, the frequency remains high. If transfusions were completely safe, differing thresholds would not matter. However, the adverse reactions associated with transfusions are: febrile reactions, hemolytic and infectious complications may occur. Most recently, blood transfusions have been linked to postoperative wound infections, pneumonia, renal dysfunction, severe sepsis, hospital mortality and increased 5-year mortality.

Palavras-chave : Blood transfusion; Complications; Cardiac surgery.