Anemia, Transfusion, and Mortality

Questions surrounding the risks and costs associated with blood transfusion have led to a reevaluation of clinical transfusion practices during the past 15 years. 1 Guidelines for blood transfusion have been issued by several organizations, including a consensus conference of the National Institutes of Health, 2 the American College of Physicians, 3 the American Society of Anesthesiology, 4 and the Canadian Medical Association. 5 The guidelines recommend that among patients without known risk factors, the threshold for transfusion should be a hemoglobin level in the range of 6.0 to 8.0 g per deciliter. They also indicate that patients with hemoglobin levels higher than 10.0 g . . .