Correlation Between Blood Transfusion and Blood Glucose Levels in Adult Living Donor Liver Transplantation

Background: To evaluate the effect of dextrose contained in banked blood products on the changes of blood glucose levels in adult living donor liver transplantation patients retrospectively. Methods: Four hundred seventy-seven patients were divided into a non–blood transfusion (BT) group (G1) and a BT group (G2). The changes in blood glucose levels during the operation were compared using a Mann-Whitney U test, and a P value less than.05 was regarded as significant. Results: No significant changes were detected in blood glucose levels after anesthesia, during dissection phase, in the anhepatic phase, or after reperfusion between the groups. Estimated blood loss for G1 (n = 89) and G2 (n = 388) were 718 ± 514 and 5804 ± 877 mL respectively, G1 had no blood transfusion but G2 had received 4350 ± 6230 mL leukocyte-poor red blood cell transfusion, the pre- and end operation hemoglobin for G1 and G2 were 13.2 ± 2.0, 10.2 ± 1.9 and 10.1 ± 1.6, 10.2 ± 1.9 mg/dL respectively, indicating that they were not under or over transfused. Conclusion: When banked blood products are used to replace ongoing blood loss, the dextrose contained in citrate-phosphate-dextrose-adenine seems to have no effect on the changes in the blood glucose levels of the recipients.