Sanne de Bruin

114 Chapter 4 Pre transfusion Hb levels in bleeding and non-bleeding patients were 7.7 (7.3-8.1) and 6.8 (6.5-7.7) g/dL, respectively, however, this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.15). Haemoglobin increment after a RBC transfusion event was 1.0 (0.5-1.1) g/dL (Figure 3A), also this was similar in bleeding and non-bleeding patients (p=0.88). Figure 2. Levels of haemoglobin (A), platelets (B), PT (C) and aPTT (D) during the 28-day follow-up. Each dot represents a patient. Patients who received a RBC (A), a platelet (B) or a plasma(C-D) transfusion are presented with a red dot. Platelet transfusion During the first week of admittance, the mean nadir platelet count remained stable: the median nadir platelet count was 160 x 10 9 cells/L (122-276) and 163 x 10 9 cells/L (100-287) at day one (n=48) and day seven (n=6) of ICU stay respectively. During the ICU stay, in three (6.3%) patients eleven platelet transfusion events were reported resulting in the transfusion of fourteen platelet concentrates. Overall, in four (36%) cases, the main reason for transfusion was bleeding, in four (27%) cases the platelet concentrates were transfused prior to an invasive procedure, and in the remaining four (36%) solely the thrombocytopenia was the reason to transfuse. The highest platelet count prior