Prehospital Blood Transfusion for U.S. Combat Casualties

Hemorrhage is a leading cause of traumatic death among both military and civilian victims. To determine if prehospital transfusion improves survival for U.S, military victims, investigators conducted a retrospective cohort study of 502 combat casualties who sustained traumatic injuries in Afghanistan from April 2012 to August 2015. Eligible patients had sustained a traumatic limb amputation at or above the elbow or knee, or had hemorrhagic shock, defined as a heart rate >120 or a systolic blood pressure <90.

Risk for death at 24 hours after MEDEVAC rescue was lower among recipients of prehospital transfusion versus nonrecipients (5% vs. 19%; hazard ratio, 0.26; P=0.02), after adjustment for mechanism of injury, prehospital shock, severity of…