SynthesisCritical care (London, England)2009
Anemia and red blood cell transfusion in neurocritical care.
Synthesis in Critical care (London, England), 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 66 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
66 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Liberal versus restrictive red blood cell transfusion thresholds in acute acquired brain injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2025Pooled it
- Liberal transfusion strategies reduce sepsis risk and improve neurological recovery in acute brain injury: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis.Critical care (London, England) · 2025Pooled it
- Associations of Anemia With Outcomes in Patients With Spontaneous Intracerebral Hemorrhage: A Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2019Pooled it
- Hemoglobin levels and transfusions in neurocritically ill patients: a systematic review of comparative studies.Critical care (London, England) · 2012Pooled it
- Restrictive vs Liberal Transfusion Strategy in Traumatic Brain Injury: A Secondary Analysis of the TRAIN Trial.JAMA network open · 2026Trial
- Aneurysmal SubArachnoid Hemorrhage-Red Blood Cell Transfusion And Outcome (SAHaRA): a pilot randomised controlled trial protocol.BMJ open · 2016Trial
- Hemoglobin Trajectory Phenotypes and Neurological Outcomes in a Neurosurgical ICU Cohort.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Liberal Versus Restrictive Blood Transfusion Strategies in Neurocritical Care: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Critical care research and practice · 2026Article
- Current perspectives and updates on transfusion strategies in critically ill anemic patients.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Review
- Association between the hemoglobin, albumin, lymphocyte, and platelet (HALP) score and 28-day mortality in neurocritical care patients: a retrospective cohort study based on the MIMIC-IV database.European journal of medical research · 2025Article
- Development and validation of a dynamic nomogram for predicting in-hospital mortality in acute massive cerebral infarction: a retrospective study in a Chinese population.European journal of medical research · 2025Article
- Hybrid diffuse optical appraisal of peripheral and cerebral changes in critically ill patients receiving red blood cell transfusion.Biophotonics discovery · 2025Article
- Real-world efficacy of transfusion with liberal or restrictive strategy in traumatic brain injury.Annals of clinical and translational neurology · 2025Article
- Discovery of generalizable TBI phenotypes using multivariate time-series clustering.Computers in biology and medicine · 2024Article
- Article
- Mechanisms and treatment of anemia related to cardiac arrest.Zhong nan da xue xue bao. Yi xue ban = Journal of Central South University. Medical sciences · 2024Review
- Relative anemia and perioperative stroke in children with moyamoya.Journal of stroke and cerebrovascular diseases : the official journal of National Stroke Association · 2024Article
- Incidence and Associated Factors of Anemia in Patients with Acute Moderate and Severe Traumatic Brain Injury.Neurocritical care · 2022Article
- Brain-Lung Crosstalk: Management of Concomitant Severe Acute Brain Injury and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.Current treatment options in neurology · 2022Review
- Contribution of Various Types of Transfusion to Acute and Delayed Intracerebral Hemorrhage Injury.Frontiers in neurology · 2021Review
6 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionAnemia is one of the most common medical complications to be encountered in critically ill patients. Based on the results of clinical trials, transfusion practices across the world have generally become more restrictive. However, because reduced oxygen delivery contributes to 'secondary' cerebral injury, anemia may not be as well tolerated among neurocritical care patients.
methodsThe first portion of this paper is a narrative review of the physiologic implications of anemia, hemodilution, and transfusion in the setting of brain-injury and stroke. The second portion is a systematic review to identify studies assessing the association between anemia or the use of red blood cell transfusions and relevant clinical outcomes in various neurocritical care populations.
resultsThere have been no randomized controlled trials that have adequately assessed optimal transfusion thresholds specifically among brain-injured patients. The importance of ischemia and the implications of anemia are not necessarily the same for all neurocritical care conditions. Nevertheless, there exists an extensive body of experimental work, as well as human observational and physiologic studies, which have advanced knowledge in this area and provide some guidance to clinicians. Lower hemoglobin concentrations are consistently associated with worse physiologic parameters and clinical outcomes; however, this relationship may not be altered by more aggressive use of red blood cell transfusions.
conclusionsAlthough hemoglobin concentrations as low as 7 g/dl are well tolerated in most critical care patients, such a severe degree of anemia could be harmful in brain-injured patients. Randomized controlled trials of different transfusion thresholds, specifically in neurocritical care settings, are required. The impact of the duration of blood storage on the neurologic implications of transfusion also requires further investigation.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.