Abstract
BACKGROUND: Cardiac surgery is associated with peri-operative bleeding, which may result in the need for blood transfusion, particularly in paediatric congenital cardiac surgery on cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). There is a necessity for regular auditing in order to improve practices. METHODS: Retrospective, contextual, descriptive data of 105 patients were collected for the period January to December 2014. RESULTS: The median age of patients was four (1-6) years, weight was 13 (8.4-20) kg, and mean lowest CPB haemoglobin level was 8.3 (1.5) g/dl. There was a statistically significant difference in median red packed cell (RPC), platelet and cryoprecipitate units per patient transfused across four RACHS (risk-adjusted classification for congenital heart surgery) categories (p = 0.03, p = 0.0013, p = 0.0001, respectively). There was a statistically significant correlation between transfused fresh frozen plasma units with CPB time (r = 0.2634, p = 0.0199) and RPC units (r = -0.4654, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Although no standardised transfusion guidelines were available, overall transfusion of blood products was comparable to reported practices.