Massive Transfusion

Massive transfusion is the transfusion of ten or more units of packed red blood cells, or a comparably large volume of whole blood, to an adult within twenty-four hours, most often to treat severe hemorrhage from trauma, major surgery or obstetric emergencies. It is delivered under a hospital massive transfusion protocol aimed at preventing death from hypoperfusion while hemostasis is achieved by surgical, interventional or supportive measures, using a balanced ratio of red blood cells, plasma and platelets, often close to one to one to one, to avoid the dilutional coagulopathy that can follow replacing large blood loss with red cells alone.