Cardiothoracic & vascular anesthesia
Implementation of a personalized blood management program in cardiac surgery: A before-and-after study
Authors' conclusion
Implementation of a pragmatic PBM program in cardiac surgery reduced RBC transfusions and healthcare costs without increasing postoperative complications.
Study context
- Population
- Patients scheduled for elective on-pump cardiac surgery
- Participants
- 787 patients
- Exposure
- Post-PBM vs pre-PBM implementation
- post-PBMn = 410
- pre-PBMn = 377reference
- Outcome
- Rate of red blood cell (RBC) transfusion
Methodological detailssingle-center
- Single-center
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
RBC transfusion rate
- Higher proportion of single-unit transfusions post-PBM
- post-PBM vs pre-PBM: P = 0.02
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Secondary outcomes
Preoperative hemoglobin (baseline)
P = 0.03
Intraoperative fluids and hemoglobin during hospitalization
- Post-PBM received less intraoperative fluids and maintained higher hemoglobin throughout hospitalization
Estimated annual cost savings
- Estimated annual cost savings
- €66,223
Safety
Postoperative complications (AKI, stroke, new-onset AF, hospital LOS)
- No significant difference
Parts of this Brief are withheld: the automatic checks could not confirm them against the abstract.
Original publication
Implementation of a personalized blood management program in cardiac surgery: A before-and-after study. Anaesth Crit Care Pain Med. Published 4 March 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →