id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentences	flesch	summary	cache	txt
cord-048199-5yhe786e	Alvarez, Gonzalo	Debate: Transfusing to normal haemoglobin levels will not improve outcome	2001-03-08		.txt	text/plain	4643	236	44	Although many questions remain, many laboratory and clinical studies, including a recent randomized controlled trial (RCT), have established that transfusing to normal haemoglobin concentrations does not improve organ failure and mortality in the critically ill patient. Clinical evidence is also insufficient to definitively establish a correlation between the age of RBCs being transfused and patient mortality; however, laboratory evidence has shown many storage-related changes that may result in impairment of blood flow and oxygen delivery at the microcirculatory level. RBC transfusions in particular improved outcome in critically ill patients with cardiovascular disease, but increased the risk of myocardial infarction in coronary artery bypass surgery patients. However, two recent cohort studies suggested that anaemia may increase the risk of mortality in critical illness [73] and following surgery in patients with cardiovascular disease [74] . Although many questions remain, the TRICC trial and many laboratory and clinical studies have established that transfusing to normal haemoglobin concentrations does not improve organ failure and mortality in the critically ill patient.	./cache/cord-048199-5yhe786e.txt	./txt/cord-048199-5yhe786e.txt