A clinical pilot study of fresh frozen plasma versus human albumin in paediatric craniofacial repair.

Paediatric craniofacial surgery (pCFS) regularly requires transfusion of packed red blood cells (pRBC). In this clinical pilot study two different transfusion regimens were prospectively compared concerning pRBC transfusions, postoperative bleeding and other clinical parameters. Thirty infants (aged < 12 months) scheduled for pCFS were assigned to receive fresh frozen plasma (FFP-group, n = 15) or 5% human albumin (HA-group, n = 15) during the entire surgical procedure. Perioperative amounts of pRBC, postoperative bleeding, major complications, duration of stay in the intensive care unit and overall hospital stay were compared. Differences in pRBC transfusions, postoperative bleeding, and duration of intensive care unit stay were not significant and no major complications occurred in either group. A significantly shorter overall hospital stay was observed in favour of the FFP-group. Volume replacement during pCFS can be safely performed with both applied protocols. Our data do not demonstrate a major advantage for FFP use, but further evaluation is necessary.