Abstract
The use of blood transfusion in elective spinal surgery still remains a topic of debate in spite of several guidelines on transfusion in orthopaedic surgery. We report on a study done to look at the transfusion practice in 64 patients who underwent scoliosis correction surgery in our institution. There were 16 males and 48 females, with an average age of 19.8 years (range 3–70 years). There were 50 patients with idiopathic scoliosis, seven with degenerative scoliosis, five with neuromuscular scoliosis, and one each of congenital and neurologic scolioses. 31 of the patients underwent posterior correction and 13 patients underwent anterior surgery and 11 patients underwent posterior surgery with costoplasty and 5 patients underwent front and back surgery while 4 patients had front and back surgery with costoplasty. 10 patients underwent iliac crest bone grafting. The mean preop haemoglobin was 13.1 g % (range11.3–16.2 g %) and the mean postop haemoglobin was 8.9 g % (5–14.9 g %). The average amount of intraoperative fluids infused was 4100 ml (range: 300–11000 ml). The mean blood loss was 803.3 ml (range: 300–1800 ml). Sixteen patients were transfused in all requiring 32 units of blood, with an average of 2 units per patient. The average duration of hospital stay was 10.1 days (5–45 days). The mean blood loss through drains was 396 ml (10–2000 ml).
Correspondence should be addressed to: Dr Caroline Goldberg, The Research Centre, Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin, Dublin 12, Ireland.
