Over the past decade, the allogeneic blood transfusion rate increased, whereas the predonated autologous blood transfusion rate decreased in patients who underwent spinal fusion in U.S. hospitals, according to a new study in Spine.
Researchers used the Nationwide Inpatient Sample was used to identify patients who underwent spinal fusion from 2000 to 2009, and ICD-9-CM were used to identify Patients who received allogeneic blood transfusion, predonated autologous blood transfusion and perioperative autologous blood transfusion.
The study found that the allogeneic blood transfusion rate increased from 4.3 percent to 8 percent from 2000 to 2009, whereas the predonated autologous blood transfusion decreased from 2.6 percent to 0.7 percent in patients who underwent fusion. The overall blood transfusion and perioperative autologous blood transfusion rates remained stable.
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