Trial reportIntensive care medicine2013
Safety and effects of two red blood cell transfusion strategies in pediatric cardiac surgery patients: a randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in Intensive care medicine, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 11 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
40 citing papers in PubMed, 11 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 102 citations in OpenAlex.
- Transfusion thresholds and other strategies for guiding red blood cell transfusion.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Red blood cell transfusion management for people undergoing cardiac surgery for congenital heart disease.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Transfusion Strategies for Pediatric Cardiac Surgery: A Meta-Analysis and Trial Sequential Analysis.Pediatric cardiology · 2021Pooled it
- Restrictive compared with liberal red cell transfusion strategies in cardiac surgery: a meta-analysis.European heart journal · 2019Pooled it
- Red blood cell transfusion threshold after pediatric cardiac surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Medicine · 2019Pooled it
- Recommendations on RBC Transfusion in Critically Ill Children With Nonlife-Threatening Bleeding or Hemorrhagic Shock From the Pediatric Critical Care Transfusion and Anemia Expertise Initiative.Pediatric critical care medicine : a journal of the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies · 2018Guideline
- Recommendations on RBC Transfusion in General Critically Ill Children Based on Hemoglobin and/or Physiologic Thresholds From the Pediatric Critical Care Transfusion and Anemia Expertise Initiative.Pediatric critical care medicine : a journal of the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies · 2018Guideline
- Recommendations on RBC Transfusion in Infants and Children With Acquired and Congenital Heart Disease From the Pediatric Critical Care Transfusion and Anemia Expertise Initiative.Pediatric critical care medicine : a journal of the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies · 2018Guideline
- Restrictive versus liberal red blood cell transfusion strategies for people with haematological malignancies treated with intensive chemotherapy or radiotherapy, or both, with or without haematopoietic stem cell support.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2017Pooled 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
- Pooled it
- The dose-effect relationship between red blood cell transfusion volume and adverse events in pediatric cardiac surgery.Translational pediatrics · 2026Article
- Quality management of comprehensive blood conservation strategies during cardiopulmonary bypass in pediatric cardiac surgery.BMC anesthesiology · 2026Article
- [Explanation and interpretation of blood transfusion provisions for children undergoing cardiac surgery in the national health standard "Guideline for pediatric transfusion"].Zhongguo dang dai er ke za zhi = Chinese journal of contemporary pediatrics · 2025Article
- Transfusion probability as an alternative measure of lab-guided medical decision-making.Transfusion · 2025Article
- Blood Product Transfusions for Children in the Perioperative Period and for Critically Ill Children.Deutsches Arzteblatt international · 2024Review
- Anemia after Pediatric Congenital Heart Surgery.Journal of pediatric intensive care · 2022Article
- Ways To Enhance Blood Transfusion Safety: A Systematic Review.Florence Nightingale journal of nursing · 2022Article
- Changes in transfusion and fluid therapy practices in severely injured children: an analysis of 5118 children from the TraumaRegister DGU®.European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society · 2022Article
- Independent Risk Factors for RBC Transfusion in Children Undergoing Surgery. Analysis of 14,248 Cases at a German University Hospital.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo investigate the safety and effects of a restrictive red blood cell (RBC) transfusion strategy in pediatric cardiac surgery patients.
designRandomized controlled trial.
settingPediatric ICU in an academic tertiary care center, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands. PATIENTS: One hundred seven patients with non-cyanotic congenital heart defects between 6 weeks and 6 years of age. One hundred three patients underwent corrective surgery on cardiopulmonary bypass.
interventionsPrior to surgery patients were randomly assigned to one of two groups with specific RBC transfusion thresholds: Hb 10.8 g/dl (6.8 mmol/l) and Hb 8.0 g/dl (5.0 mmol/l). MEASUREMENTS: Length of stay in hospital (primary outcome), length of stay in PICU, duration of ventilation (secondary outcome), incidence of adverse events and complications related to randomization (intention to treat analysis).
resultsIn the restrictive transfusion group, mean volume of transfused RBC was 186 (±70) ml per patient and in the liberal transfusion group 258 (±87) ml per patient, (95% CI 40.6-104.6), p < 0.001. Length of hospital stay was shorter in patients with a restrictive RBC transfusion strategy: median 8 (IQR 7-11) vs. 9 (IQR 7-14) days, p = 0.047. All other outcome measures and incidence of adverse effects were equal in both RBC transfusion groups. Cost of blood products for the liberal transfusion group was 438.35 (±203.39) vs. 316.27 (±189.96) euros (95% CI 46.61-197.51) per patient in the restrictive transfusion group, p = 0.002.
conclusionsFor patients with a non-cyanotic congenital heart defect undergoing elective cardiac surgery, a restrictive RBC transfusion policy (threshold of Hb 8.0 g/dl) during the entire perioperative period is safe, leads to a shorter hospital stay and is less expensive.
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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.