Survey of Blood Transfusion Practice for Palliative Care Patients in Yorkshire: Implications for Clinical Care
- 1 August 2007
- journal article
- Published by Mary Ann Liebert Inc in Journal of Palliative Medicine
- Vol. 10 (4), 919-922
- https://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2006.0199
Abstract
Blood transfusions can be used to palliate the symptoms of fatigue or dyspnea in the presence of anemia. We studied the transfusion practices of 8 hospices in our cancer network over a 1-year period. We identified 164 patients who received 650 units of blood in 230 transfusions. The majority of patients received a single transfusion (71%), of 2 or 3 units of blood (76%), as an inpatient (83%). Blood transfusions occurred in 140 (5.7%) of 2460 hospice admissions. Median survival following first transfusion was 42 days and significantly longer for outpatients compared to inpatients (median of 104 days and 36 days, respectively, p = 0.006).Keywords
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