Impact of pre-storage and bedside filtered leukocyte-depleted blood transfusions on infective morbidity after colorectal resection: a single-center analysis of 437 patients.

Background: Leukocyte-depleted blood transfusions were introduced to reduce transfusion-associated immunomodulation, but the clinical effects of different types of leukocyte depletion have been analyzed rarely. The aim of this survey was to analyze the clinical impact of pre-storage leukocyte-depleted blood transfusions (considered as pre-storage or bedside-filtered) on post-operative complications in patients undergoing elective or urgent colorectal resection.

Methods: Data were collected retrospectively from the medical records of 437 consecutive patients who underwent colorectal resection from 2005 to 2010.