Blood Transfusion Practices in Maxillofacial Surgery in a Nigeria Tertiary Hospital

ABSTRACT Background: Blood transfusion could be a life-saving procedure. It is often used to treat hemorrhage, correct anaemia, and improve oxygen delivery to tissues. There have been a lot of debates on the appropriate use of blood and blood products in surgery, this necessitated this study. Aim: To assess the pattern of blood ordering and transfusion practices in elective maxillofacial surgery in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria. Methodology: We evaluated the pattern of blood ordering and transfusion practices in 100 maxillofacial surgical patients from January 2005 to April 2006. With the help of different indices such as crossmatch transfusion ratio (C/T), transfusion probability (%T), patient transfusion ratio (P/T), and transfusion index (TI). Blood ordering pattern for various maxillofacial surgical procedures was studied. Results: Out of 208 units of blood crossmatched for 100 patients, 185 units were transfused to 85 patients. 11.1% of the crossmatched blood was not utilized. The outcome of this study showed crossmatch transfusion ration of 1.10, a transfusion probability of 85%, a transfusion index to be 0.62, and a patient transfusion ratio is 0.54. Conclusion: This study showed over-usage of blood; therefore, it is imperative to improve clinical transfusion practices through alternatives to allogeneic blood transfusion such as autologous transfusion, and raising the hemoglobin level with iron supplements for elective maxillofacial surgical procedures