Effect of red blood cell transfusion on oxygen consumption in the anemic pediatric patient

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Abstract
To compare oxygen consumption (Vo(2)) measured by indirect calorimetry before and after a packed red blood cell (PRBC) transfusion in patients with isovolemic anemia. Prospective, repeated-measures clinical study. Outpatient pediatric hematology-oncology clinic. A total of 17 pediatric hematology-oncology outpatients undergoing a PRBC transfusion for a hematocrit of or =10% change. No significant difference was found in age, height, weight, initial hematocrit, or volume of red blood cells transfused between these two groups. A significant increase in Vo(2) was noted after a red blood cell transfusion in pediatric patients with isovolemic anemia. These findings suggest that Vo(2) was dependent on the supply of oxygen in this subset of pediatric patients. Responding to increased oxygen delivery by increasing Vo(2) implies that these patients were functioning in a state of relative oxygen deficit and had made physiologic adaptive changes to function in this state.