Peer reviews of hospital transfusion practices rarely screen for under-transfusion, one definition of which is a delay in transfusion that complicates significant myocardial ischemia. A one-year, retrospective review studied the timing of red cell transfusions among medical and surgical patients with secondary diagnoses of acute myocardial infarction. Five possible cases of delayed transfusion were found among 11,197 transfused patients (incidence = 1 in 2,200 transfusions). Delayed transfusion can complicate a patient's difficult clinical course. Hospital transfusion committees should consider surveying for delayed transfusion in addition to the more common surveys for over-transfusion.
Blood transfusion
