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There are few civilian studies that examine the use of blood transfusions before arrival at the trauma center. Researchers performed a secondary analysis of blunt trauma patients with hemorrhagic shock who presented to one of nine trauma centers within 2 hours of injury between 2003 and 2010. Using propensity matching, 50 patients who received a pre–trauma center transfusion were compared with 113 patients who did not receive a transfusion.
The transfusion cohort had higher rates of hypotension prior to trauma center arrival, had a higher initial base deficit, and received less crystalloid in the first 24 hours. Mean time from injury to trauma center arrival was 60 minutes, and 52% of transfused patients were scene transports. Transfused pat…