Abstract
Pulmonary capillary 'wedge' pressures (PCWP) were measured in 20 adult cases of chronic severe anemia (CSA) before and after transfusion of 700ml of whole blood at a rate of 5ml/min. The cases were randomly divided into 2 groups of 10 cases each. Group II also received 40mg of furosemide immediately before the start of transfusion.
The majority of the cases had hemoglobin values <4g% and serum albumin values <2.5g%. Pretransfusion intracardiac pressures were normal in all the cases. Following blood transfusion (BT), appreciable rises (p<0.001) in hemoglobin and arterial and venous oxygen saturation were observed. PCWP increased significantly after BT in Group I (p<0.001). Although it decreased by 3.75% in Group II, this was not statistically significant (p<0.05).
This study implies that a blood transfusion of 700ml, given at a speed of 5ml/min in patients with CSA, results in sufficient hemodynamic stress to cause a significant rise in PCWP, and that this is completely prevented by simultaneous administration of 40mg of furosemide.
