Association of primary hemodilution and retrograde autologous priming with transfusion in cardiac surgery: Analysis of the perfusion case database of the Japanese society of extracorporeal technology in medicine

It is important to avoid unnecessary blood cell transfusion. However, the associations of hemodilution and retrograde autologous priming with red blood cell transfusion during and after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) in cardiac surgery in Japan are currently unclear. We analyzed these associations using data for 3,090 adults from the Perfusion Case Database of the Japanese Society of Extra-Corporeal Technology in Medicine. Percent hemodilution was calculated by total priming volume and weight. Logistic regression models were used to adjust for covariates including type of surgery, gender, age, hemoglobin concentration before CPB, CPB time, urine volume during CPB, and institution. The percentages of red blood cell transfusions during CPB for patients with <15, 15 to <20, 20 to <25, 25 to <30, and $30% hemodilution were 43.0, 51.5, 68.9, 77.3, and 87.7%, respectively. This increase in line with increasing dilution was significant after adjusting for covariates. The percentage of red blood cell transfusion after CPB also increased slightly between 39.0 and 49.4% with percent hemodilution, but the trend after adjusting for covariates was not significant. Use of retrograde autologous priming was significantly associated with blood cell transfusion during CPB after adjusting for covariates, but was not significantly related to blood cell transfusion after CPB. These results suggest that optimizing the percent hemodilution and use of retrograde autologous priming might reduce the use of red blood cell transfusion during CPB in clinical practice in Japan.