SynthesisTransfusion medicine (Oxford, England)2020
Pre-hospital transfusion of red blood cells. Part 2: A systematic review of treatment effects on outcomes.
Synthesis in Transfusion medicine (Oxford, England), 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
20 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 49 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prehospital plasma transfusion versus standard of care following traumatic injury: a review of the systematic reviews and a meta-analysis.European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society · 2025Pooled it
- The European guideline on management of major bleeding and coagulopathy following trauma: sixth edition.Critical care (London, England) · 2023Guideline
- Pre-hospital transfusion of red blood cells. Part 2: A systematic review of treatment effects on outcomes.Transfusion medicine (Oxford, England) · 2020Pooled it
- Resuscitation with blood products in patients with trauma-related haemorrhagic shock receiving prehospital care (RePHILL): a multicentre, open-label, randomised, controlled, phase 3 trial.The Lancet. Haematology · 2022Trial
- Prehospital Transfusion With Red Blood Cells and Fresh Plasma in Helicopter Emergency Medical Services.Acta anaesthesiologica Scandinavica · 2026Article
- Best practices on blood and blood products for a prehospital hemorrhage protocol: consensus from the 2025 Canadian prehospital transfusion summit.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2026Article
- Blood transfusion training for prehospital providers: a scoping review.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2025Article
- Blood product administration in the prehospital setting: a multisociety consensus statement.Journal of anesthesia, analgesia and critical care · 2025Review
- Prehospital Blood Administration in Traumatic Hemorrhagic Shock.Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open · 2025Article
- Characteristics of traumatic major haemorrhage in a tertiary trauma center.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2024Article
- Unmanned aerial vehicles and pre-hospital emergency medicine.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2024Review
- A comparative analysis of current out-of-hospital transfusion protocols to expert recommendations.Resuscitation plus · 2023Article
- Patients at Risk for Transfusion-A Six-Year Multicentre Analysis of More Than 320,000 Helicopter Emergency Medical Service Missions.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Pre-Hospital Blood Products for the Care of Bleeding Trauma Patients.Deutsches Arzteblatt international · 2023Review
- Major Pelvic Ring Injuries: Fewer Transfusions Without Deaths from Bleeding During the Last Decade.World journal of surgery · 2023Article
- A descriptive analysis of the Canadian prehospital and transport transfusion (CAN-PATT) network.Resuscitation plus · 2023Article
- Prediction of pre-hospital blood transfusion in trauma patients based on scoring systems.BMC emergency medicine · 2023Article
- Initial experiences of prehospital blood product transfusions between 2016 and 2020 in Päijät-Häme hospital district, Finland.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2022Article
- Recovery of organ-specific tissue oxygen delivery at restrictive transfusion thresholds after fluid treatment in ovine haemorrhagic shock.Intensive care medicine experimental · 2022Article
- Development of a national out-of-hospital transfusion protocol: a modified RAND Delphi study.CMAJ openArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The primary aim of this systematic review is to describe the effects of prehospital transfusion of red blood cells (PHTRBC) on patient outcomes. Damage control resuscitation attempts to prevent death through haemorrhage in trauma patients. In this context, transfusion of red blood cells is increasingly used by emergency medical services (EMS). However, evidence on the effects on outcomes is scarce. PubMed and Web of Science were searched through January 2019; 55 articles were included. No randomised controlled studies were identified. While several observational studies suggest an increased survival after PHTRBC, consistent evidence for beneficial effects of PHTRBC on survival was not found. PHTRBC appears to improve haemodynamic parameters, but there is no evidence that shock on arrival to hospital is averted, nor of an association with trauma induced coagulopathy or with length of stay in hospitals or intensive care units. In conclusion, PHTRBC is increasingly used by EMS, but there is no strong evidence for effects of PHTRBC on mortality. Further research with study designs that allow causal inferences is required for more conclusive evidence. The combination of PHTRBC with plasma, as well as the use of individualised transfusion criteria, may potentially show more benefits and should be thoroughly investigated in the future. The review was registered at Prospero (CRD42018084658).
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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.