Transfusion Thresholds in Stable Critically Ill Children

TRIPICU · New England Journal of Medicine · 2007

The paediatric counterpart to the adult TRICC trial, and the basis for restrictive transfusion practice in stable PICU patients.

The restrictive threshold was non-inferior for new or progressive multiple organ dysfunction.

Children in the restrictive group received substantially fewer transfusions.

No significant difference in mortality or length of stay was found.

Restricted to haemodynamically stable children — it does not speak to active bleeding or unstable shock.

Leukocyte-reduced blood was used throughout, which may not reflect all settings.

Powered for non-inferiority, so it cannot exclude small differences in rarer outcomes.

In a stable critically ill child, 7.0 g/dL is a defensible threshold.

Stability is the precondition, and is the part most often dropped when the trial is quoted.