Cardiovascular responses to blood transfusion in children with anemic heart failure.

Introduction: This study evaluated the cardiovascular responses to blood transfusion in children with anemic heart failure using mostly clinical parameters.

Materials And Methods: Consecutive patients with anemic heart failure presenting to a children's emergency room and requiring blood transfusion were assessed for heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), liver size, and oxygen saturation (O 2 sat) pre-transfusion, 1-2 h into transfusion (intra-transfusion), immediate post-transfusion, and at late post-transfusion (24 h later).

Results: A total of 75 patients were recruited of which 46 (61.3%) were males. Their mean age was 43.8 ± 40.3 months while their mean PCV at presentation was 15.0 ± 4.5%. There was a significant mean net reduction of 10 beat per minute (bpm) between the pre (139.7 ± 25.2 bpm) and intra-transfusion (129.6 ± 22.0 bpm) HR, P = 0.0004. The mean net reduction of 4 cycles/ min between the pre and intra-transfusion RR was also significant, P = 0.0033. The two parameters declined in values subsequently.

Conclusion: The HR and RR are two easily measurable indices with reduction in HR and RR by 10 bpm and 4 cycles/min, respectively, from pre-transfusion to intra-transfusion observations.