Publication – Patient Blood Management

Publication: German Patient Blood Management Network: effectiveness and safety analysis in 1.2 million patients

PBM_Admin_Frankfurt — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 11:03:27 +0000

The German PBM Network was founded in 2014 with the aim to implement PBM in Germany. When joining the PBM Network, the hospitals are supported with training material and standard operating procedures.

In order to assess the effect of the PBM implementation, routine data of 1.2 million patients from 14 hospitals were evaluated. The analysis showed that the implementation of a PBM program can effectively reduce the consumption of red blood cell (RBC) units and the RBC transfusion rate in hospitals of different sizes. The reduction of RBC utilization is especially high in departments with high blood consumption (e.g. cardiac surgery, vascular surgery). In addition, PBM implementation was particularly effective in hospitals with initially high blood product consumption.

Click here for the article!

Benefits of Tranexamic Acid Outweigh the Potential Thromboembolic Risk

pbmadmin — Tue, 20 Apr 2021 07:52:45 +0000

Tranexamic acid (TXA) is a highly potent antifibrinolytic agent and has therefore been used for many decades to treat severe bleeding. The pharmacological effect of TXA is based on the blocking of lysine binding sites in the plasminogen, thereby preventing its binding to fibrin, where it would normally be available for activation by the tissue plasminogen activator.

As part of the emerging Patient Blood Management, the focus is increasingly on an earlier prophylactic administration of TXA to prevent clotting disorders and bleeding and thus to avoid unnecessary blood transfusions. Tranexamic acid thus conserves the valuable blood resources and thereby experiences an increased enthusiasm.

With the expansion of the indication and a liberal application, however, new questions about potential risks come to the fore. There is some scepticism as to whether new blood clots, called thrombosis or embolisms, could occur more frequently due to the prophylactic use of intravenous TXA. These include, for example, leg vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, strokes or heart attacks.

The current systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of Taeuber et al. with more than 200 randomized controlled studies, which was published in the journal “JAMA Surgery”, addresses exactly this question. Included studies compare intravenously applied TXA with a placebo or control. More than 125,000 patients from a wide range of medical disciplines were observed.

The results of the study showed for the first time that neither thrombosis nor embolisms occurred more frequently when patients were treated with TXA. At the same time, previous study results have confirmed that the overall death rate and in particular the death rate due to bleeding is significantly reduced by TXA. The results were tested for durability and robustness using different calculation models.

In summary, the benefits of intravenous administration of tranexamic acid as a prophylaxis outweigh the potential thromboembolic risk, thus forming an important building block in patient blood management for preventing clotting disorders, reducing the risk of bleeding and protecting the valuable resource blood.

The original work can be found at this link.

Meta-Analysis on Patient Blood Managment published

pbmadmin — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 08:34:27 +0000

The PBM-Team Frankfurt published a meta-analysis on Patient Blood Management in the scientific journal “Annals of Surgery”. The study analysis the effect of PBM regarding the reduction of perioperative complication rates, and thereby to improve clinical outcome based on data of 235,779 patients from 17 studies. It is demonstrated, that implementing a multimdodal PBM program in surgical patients results in significant reductions of:

Transfusion rate,
Red blood cell units per patient,
Length of hospital stay,
Total number of complications,
Mortality rate.

The study is open access published and is available for download.

[German] Thieme publishes 2nd edition of “Patient Blood Management”

pbmadmin — Fri, 16 Mar 2018 15:16:05 +0000

In April 2018, Thieme is going to publish a revised second edition of the book “Patient Blood Management – Behandlungskonzepte zur Reduktion und Vermeidung von Anämie und Blutverlusten”. The book gives a comprehensive overview on the concept of PBM as well as recommendations for implementation into day-to-day clinical routines. Prof. Dr. Dr. Zacharowski is one of the editors of the book and several chapters were written by the PBM-Team Frankfurt.

Further information can be found here or via clicking on the flyer to the left.

Choosing wisely campaign comes to Germany

pbmadmin — Fri, 16 Jun 2017 12:39:12 +0000

Based on the recommendations of the choosing wisely campaign of the American Society of Anesthesiology, the German Association of Internal Medicine and the Association of the Scientific Medical Societies in Germany, the German Society of Anaesthesiology published a guidance, including 10 measures to improve diagnostics of critical patients. We highly appreciate Patient Blood Management being named twice in this list. Firstly, a thorough implementation of PBM measures is recommended for patients with a large surgical intervention. Secondly, it is advice to hold blood transfusion for patients a Hb levels > 7-8 g/dl if no signs of hypoxia or massive haemorrhage are visible, respectively.

More information are available from: www.aerzteblatt.de

Prof. Dr. Meybohm receives Julius-Springer-award

pbmadmin — Fri, 24 Mar 2017 14:34:08 +0000

The article “Patient Blood Management: Stand der aktuellen Literatur” (Der Chirurg 1; 2016) written by Prof. Dr. Meybohm and colleagues was nominated “best review article” published in the peer-reviewed medical Journal “Der Chirurg” in 2016.

v.l.n.r. Prof. Dr. Dr. Henning Dralle (Schriftleiter Der Chirurg), Prof. Dr. Patrick Meybohm (Preisträger)
und Christiane Jurek (Managing Editor Der Chirurg) © Springer Medizin Verlag

The associated Julius-Springer-Award was presented in Munich on the evening of March 22 2017 as part of the 134. Annual Meeting of the German Society of Surgery. Prof. Dr. Meybohm is honored to receive this prestigious award.

University Hospital Frankfurt publishes eBook on Patient Blood Management

pbmadmin — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 11:58:56 +0000

To summarise the clinical concept of Patient Blood Management, the PBM Network Coordination Centre published an eBook in a joint approach with collaborators from the University Hospital Frankfurt. In the first instance, the eBook addresses healthcare professionals as well as hospital management employees. Nevertheless, for anyone interested in the topic the eBook presents a brief and profound overview.

The eBook is available at Amazon Deutschland, Amazon USA, Apple Deutschland, Thalia Deutschland, Weltbild and books.ch.