Goodnough L T, Despotis G J
Department of Medicine, Pathology, and Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.
Am J Surg. 1995 Dec;170(6A Suppl):16S-20S. doi: 10.1016/s0002-9610(99)80053-1.
Medical practice guidelines have been promoted as a way to improve the cost-effectiveness of medical care. Algorithms for the transfusion of red blood cells, plasma, and platelets may be especially useful in the surgical setting if they incorporate point-of-care information that is both physiologic and patient-specific for transfusion decision making. Therefore, the goals of guidelines for surgical blood management should be twofold. They should (1) acknowledge patient-specific variability while addressing physician- and institution-dependent variables; and (2) improve blood component management by developing more physiologic clinical indicators of the need for allogeneic red blood cell transfusion.
