Transfusion practice in orthotopic liver transplantation.

Liver transplant procedures require the most blood components, despite the fact that blood use in liver transplantation has declined dramatically over the last decade. Liver transplant recipients present unique challenges, not only in terms of blood supply, but also requirements for specialized blood components, serologic problems, and immunologic effects of transfusion on both the allograft and the recipient. The cause of intraoperative blood loss in liver transplantation is multifactorial, due to both technical factors and poor coagulation control. This procedure carries the risk of massive blood loss, which requires massive transfusions and is associated with postoperative infections, reduced graft survival, multi-organ dysfunction, and higher risk of mortality. Efforts to reduce intraoperative bleeding leading to limitation of blood transfusions are desirable to improve results and also to control costs. Method of literature search: The name of topic is typed and searched in Google search. The name of topic is typed and searched in PubMed search. Related articles were also searched. Some standard books in Transfusion Medicine were also referred.