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Randomized trials have shown favorable outcomes with a restrictive red-cell transfusion strategy — that is, not transfusing until hemoglobin levels are <7 g/dL in general critical-care patients (NEJM JW Gen Med Feb 12 1999), patients with noncatastrophic gastrointestinal bleeding (NEJM JW Hosp Med Feb 15 2013), and patients with septic shock (N Engl J Med 2014; 371:1381) and <8 g/dL in patients undergoing cardiac surgery (NEJM JW Cardiol Nov 3 2010) and hip-fracture surgery (NEJM JW Gen Med Jan 19 2012). Now, in another patient population, investigators have reached a different conclusion.
Researchers in Brazil enrolled 198 patients who underwent surgery for abdominal cancer (mostly gastrointestinal, pancreatic, or urogenital) and who requir…