Trial reportArchives of disease in childhood. Fetal and neonatal edition2011
Acute physiological effects of packed red blood cell transfusion in preterm infants with different degrees of anaemia.
Trial report in Archives of disease in childhood. Fetal and neonatal edition, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 3 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
18 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- Larger versus smaller red blood cell volume per transfusion in hospitalized adults, children and preterm neonates.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2026Pooled it
- The Effect of Liberal versus Restrictive Haemoglobin Thresholds on Cerebral Tissue Oxygenation in Preterm Infants: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Neonatology · 2026Pooled it
- Restrictive versus liberal transfusion strategy for red blood cell transfusion: systematic review of randomised trials with meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2015Pooled it
- Effects of liberal versus restrictive transfusion strategies on intermittent hypoxaemia in extremely low birthweight infants: secondary analyses of the ETTNO randomised controlled trial.Archives of disease in childhood. Fetal and neonatal edition · 2025Trial
- Tissue Oxygenation Changes After Transfusion and Outcomes in Preterm Infants: A Secondary Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study of the Transfusion of Prematures Randomized Clinical Trial (TOP NIRS).JAMA network open · 2023Trial
- Integrated cerebro-splanchnic blood flow and regional oxygenation monitoring in transfused anemic preterm infants.Scientific reports · 2026Observational
- Short-Term Physiological Effects of Red Blood Cell Transfusion in Very Low Birth Weight Infants: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Minute-by-minute systemic hemodynamic responses to packed red blood cell transfusion in extremely low gestational age neonates: a prospective cohort study.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Hemodynamically significant anemia as an indication of transfusion in preterm infants.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2025Article
- Effects of red blood cell transfusion on cerebral hemodynamics of preterm neonates.Neurophotonics · 2024Article
- The impact of a PDA on tissue oxygenation and haemodynamics following a blood transfusion in preterm infants.Pediatric research · 2023Observational
- Biomarkers of gut injury in neonates - where are we in predicting necrotising enterocolitis?Frontiers in pediatrics · 2022Review
- Anemia of prematurity: how low is too low?Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2021Review
- Non-invasive Cardiac Output Monitoring in Neonates.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2020Review
- Progressive anemia of prematurity is associated with a critical increase in cerebral oxygen extraction.Early human development · 2020Article
- Red Cell Transfusion Practices in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: An Experience from Tertiary Care Centre.Indian journal of hematology & blood transfusion : an official journal of Indian Society of Hematology and Blood Transfusion · 2018Article
- Anemia of prematurity and cerebral near-infrared spectroscopy: should transfusion thresholds in preterm infants be revised?Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2018Article
- Myocardial assessment using tissue doppler imaging in preterm very low-birth weight infants before and after red blood cell transfusion.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveThe safe lower limit of haematocrit or haemoglobin that should trigger a red blood cell (RBC) transfusion has not been defined. The objective of this study was to examine the physiological effects of anaemia and compare the acute responses to transfusion in preterm infants who were transfused at higher or lower haematocrit thresholds.
methodsThe authors studied 41 preterm infants with birth weights 500-1300 g, who were enrolled in a clinical trial comparing high ('liberal') and low ('restrictive') haematocrit thresholds for transfusion. Measurements were performed before and after a packed RBC transfusion of 15 ml/kg, which was administered because the infant's haematocrit had fallen below the threshold defined by study protocol. Haemoglobin, haematocrit, RBC count, reticulocyte count, lactic acid and erythropoietin were measured before and after transfusion using standard methods. Cardiac output was measured by echocardiography. Oxygen consumption was determined using indirect calorimetry. Systemic oxygen transport and fractional oxygen extraction were calculated.
resultsSystemic oxygen transport rose in both groups following transfusion. Lactic acid was lower after transfusion in both groups. Oxygen consumption did not change significantly in either group. Cardiac output and fractional oxygen extraction fell after transfusion in the low haematocrit group only.
conclusionsThese study's results demonstrate no acute physiological benefit of transfusion in the high haematocrit group. The fall in cardiac output with transfusion in the low haematocrit group shows that these infants had increased their cardiac output to maintain adequate tissue oxygen delivery in response to anaemia and, therefore, may have benefitted from transfusion.
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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.