Blood component use in orthotopic liver transplantation.

Blood component use during orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) was evaluated after an initial 23-month experience with 37 consecutive transplant procedures. Blood component support of OLTs in 24 adult and 13 pediatric patients was reviewed. Adult procedures required intraoperatively a mean of 24.5 units of red cells (RBCs), 38.7 units of fresh-frozen plasma (FFP), 26.1 random-donor platelets (RDP), and 12.2 units of cryoprecipitate (Cryo); pediatric procedures required 4.8 units of RBCs, 5.8 of FFP, 3.9 of RDP, and 1.2 of Cryo. RBC salvage constituted 17 percent of the RBCs transfused intraoperatively. Intraoperative support in adult and pediatric OLT patients accounted for the majority of the total components required for the entire hospital stay. OLT blood component use constituted 1.3, 7.0, 3.6, and 8.1 percent of hospital-wide use of RBC, FFP, RDP, and Cryo, respectively, during the period of the study.