title: Effect of different amounts of blood transfusion given at different speeds on left ventricular filling pressure in cases of chronic severe anemia.
abstract: Pulmonary capillary 'wedge' pressure (PCWP) was measured before and after transfusion of 1 and 2 units of blood @ 5 and 10 ml/min. in 40 adult cases of chronic severe anemia (CSA). The cases were randomly divided into 4 subgroups of 10 cases each. Following blood transfusion (BT), PCWP increased significantly in all the 4 subgroups (p less than 0.001). The highest rise in PCWP was recorded when 2 units of blood were transfused at a rate of 10 ml/min, and the rise was minimum when 1 unit of blood was transfused @ 5 ml/min. Out of the two variables--speed and amount of BT--the amount was more important. It is, therefore, concluded that administration of 2 units of blood in case of CSA at a rate of 5 or 10 ml/min is not desirable and that transfusion of 1 unit of blood @ 5 ml/min is quite safe.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000740:Anemia / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D001775:Blood Circulation; D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000379:methods*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011669:Pulmonary Wedge Pressure; D011897:Random Allocation