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Transfusion in the Intensive Care Unit pp 1–4Cite as

Introduction

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Abstract

Critically ill patients are frequently transfused, with 40–50 % of patients receiving a red blood cell transfusion during their stay in the intensive care unit (ICU) [ 1 ].

Current red blood cell transfusion practice in the ICU has largely been shaped by a landmark trial published in 1999, which taught us that a restrictive transfusion trigger is well tolerated in the critically ill and of particular benefi t in the young and less severely ill [ 2 ]. Following this trial, a restrictive trigger has been widely adopted [ 3 – 5 ]. Nevertheless, transfusion rates in the ICU remain high, rendering bloodtransfusion part of everyday practice in the ICU.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Academic Medical Center, Room G3-206, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Nicole P. Juffermans

  2. Laboratory of Experimental Intensive Care and Anesthesiology (L.E.I.C.A.), Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Nicole P. Juffermans

  3. Department of Anaesthetics, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, UK

    Timothy S. Walsh

Authors
  1. Nicole P. Juffermans
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  2. Timothy S. Walsh
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nicole P. Juffermans .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Intensive Care L.E.I.C.A., Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Nicole P. Juffermans

  2. MRC Centre for Inflammation Research, University of Edinburgh The Queens Medical Research Institute, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

    Timothy S. Walsh

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© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Juffermans, N.P., Walsh, T.S. (2015). Introduction. In: Juffermans, N., Walsh, T. (eds) Transfusion in the Intensive Care Unit. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08735-1_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08735-1_1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-08734-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-08735-1

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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