The impact of blood conservation on outcomes in cardiac surgery: is it safe and effective?

In this retrospective study, the authors report that a well-defined blood conservation strategy can be associated with a decrease in allogeneic blood use and a reduction in the incidence of severe postoperative complications in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery. These observations are quite interesting. However, due to the methodology used, a causal relationship between the decrease in allogeneic blood use and the reduction in postoperative morbidity cannot be demonstrated. Other studies have demonstrated that the adoption of a multidisciplinary blood conservation strategy may result not only in a decrease in allogeneic blood product use, but also in a significant improvement in the global quality of care.

– Philippe Van der Linden