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Pat Phillips
JAMA contributor

JAMA. 1998;279:1596-1597.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

A RESTRICTIVE blood transfusion strategy significantly reduces 30-day all-cause mortality in critically ill patients compared with a liberal blood transfusion strategy, according to new data from the first prospective, randomized trial to examine the use of both strategies in intensive care units.

The multicenter Canadian trial known as TRICC, for Transfusion Requirements in Critical Care, found that mortality was 24% in the liberal transfusion group compared with 18% in the restrictive transfusion group, an absolute difference of 6%. In the liberal group, 101 patients died, and in the restrictive group, 77 patients died. The trial was conducted in 25 critical care units throughout Canada, with 420 patients randomized to the liberal transfusion group and 428 patients allocated to the restrictive group.

"That means, on average, 1 life was saved for every 17 patients transfused with the restrictive strategy," said Paul C. Hebert, MD, principal investigator of the trial . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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