The Research Roundup provides an overview of the past week’s research from Mayo Medical Laboratories consultants, including featured abstracts and a complete list of published studies and reviews.
Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is a common medical emergency with significant morbidity and mortality. Many patients are coagulopathic, which may perpetuate bleeding. Remote damage control resuscitation, including early correction of coagulopathy and anemia, may benefit exsanguinating patients with GI bleeding. Mayo Clinic researchers conducted a retrospective review of patients with acute GI bleeding who received packed red blood cells (pRBC) and/or plasma during transportation to our institution between 2010 and 2014. A comparison group of patients who were not transfused en route was selected, and demographics, outcomes, and response to resuscitation were compared. Prehospital damage control resuscitation with pRBC and/or plasma resulted in the improvement of hemodynamic instability, coagulopathy, and anemia in patients with acute GI bleeding. Almost all patients required additional inpatient interventions and/or transfusions, suggesting that pre-hospital transfusion is being utilized for appropriately selected patients. The study was published in Air Medical Journal.