Perspective:

These guidelines suggest that it is good practice to consider the hemoglobin level, the overall clinical context, patient preferences, and alternative therapies when making transfusion decisions regarding an individual patient. The guidelines recommend that restrictive RBC transfusion threshold in which the transfusion is not indicated until the hemoglobin level is 7 g/dl is recommended for hospitalized adult patients who are hemodynamically stable, including critically ill patients, rather than when the hemoglobin level is 10 g/dl (strong recommendation, moderate quality evidence). A restrictive RBC transfusion threshold of 8 g/dl is recommended for patients undergoing orthopedic surgery, cardiac surgery, and those with pre-existing cardiovascular disease (strong recommendation, moderate quality evidence). The restrictive transfusion threshold of 7 g/dl is likely comparable with 8 g/dl, but RCT evidence is not available for all patient categories. These recommendations do not apply to patients with acute coronary syndrome, severe thrombocytopenia (patients treated for hematological or oncological reasons who are at risk of bleeding), and chronic transfusion–dependent anemia. Another recommendation is that patients, including neonates, should receive RBC units selected at any point within their licensed dating period (standard issue) rather than limiting patients to transfusion of only fresh (storage length: <10 days) RBC units (strong recommendation, moderate quality evidence).