Skip to content

The Role of Central Venous Oxygen Saturation (ScvO2) as an Indicator of Blood Transfusion in the Critically Ill

The Role of Central Venous Oxygen Saturation (ScvO2) as an Indicator of Blood Transfusion in the Critically Ill

Status
UNKNOWN
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT03138200
Enrollment
160
Registered
2017-05-03
Start date
2017-03-08
Completion date
2019-03-01
Last updated
2017-05-03

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Anemia, Blood Transfusion; Hemoglobinemia, Hypoxia

Keywords

Transfusion, ScvO2, Hemoglobin

Brief summary

Transfusion of red blood cells is an everyday practice in critical care with the primary aim of restoring adequate tissue oxygenation. However, blood transfusion may also be harmful and costly, therefore a so called restrictive transfusion regime has been suggested by recent guidelines. These transfusion guidelines consider certain levels of hemoglobin as transfusion trigger, which on its own gives little information if any about the balance between oxygen delivery (DO2) and consumption (VO2). Hence, there is a clear need for additional physiologic transfusion trigger values. One of the potentially useful and easily obtainable physiological parameters is the central venous oxygen saturation (ScvO2), which has been shown to be a potential transfusion trigger value in hemodynamically stable but anemic patients. However, the role of ScvO2 as a transfusion trigger value was examined only in a retrospective observational study and in animal experiment. The normal value of ScvO2 in a resting adult at rest is around 70-75%, which is the product of the VO2 and DO2 relationship. Low ScvO2 usually indicates inadequate DO2. It was found in an observational study that if ScvO2\>70% before transfusion due to transfusion only the value of hemoglobin increased but the value of ScvO2 did not change. This finding indicates that the DO2 may have been adequate in spite of the low hemoglobin value and the transfusion may have been unnecessary. In one of their recent animal experiments, the investigators reported that in an isovolemic-anemia model the value of ScvO2\<70% was only reached when the value of hemoglobin was far less, 59 g/L, than the recommended lowest value of 70g/L as transfusion trigger by guidelines. Despite the pathophysiological rationale and the encouraging results of retrospective studies and animal experiments, prospective randomized trials in order to test the effects of an ScvO2-assisted transfusion protocol are yet to be performed. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of an ScvO2-assisted transfusion protocol as compared to the guideline-based, hemoglobin levels guided transfusion practice.

Interventions

BIOLOGICALBlood transfusion

Blood transfusion is a safe, routine procedure in which blood is given to a patient through an intravenous cannula inserted into one of the patient's veins.

Sponsors

Medical Centre Hungarian Defence Forces
CollaboratorUNKNOWN
Szeged University
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

1. Adult (\>18 y) 2. Critically ill anemic but hemodynamically stable patients treated on the ICU in whom transfusion is considered by the attending physician 3. Routine ICU monitoring: invasive blood pressure, CVC, hourly urine output 4. Anemia is defined as Hb\<100 g/L 5. Hemodynamic stability is defined as: 1. heart rate (HR)\<100/min, 2. mean arterial pressure (MAP)\>60 mmHg 3. no or minimal requirement of noradrenaline (NA): compensation for sedation not exceeding 5 µg/min 4. stable homeostasis: i. pH: 7.30-7.45 ii. HCO3 \> 20 mmol/L iii. lactate \< 2 mmol/L e. normal hourly urine output for the last 2 hours not facilitated by diuretics: \>0.5ml/kg/h 6. Central venous catheter in situ (position in the v. cava superior confirmed by chest x-ray)

Exclusion criteria

1. Pregnancy 2. Head injury requiring ICP monitoring guided control of ICP 3. Shock of any origin 4. Patients with heart failure 5. Patients with renal failure

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Comparison of number of transfuion events in the two groups2 yearsComparison of how many tranfusions were performed based on ScvO2 to conventional, hemoglobin based transfusion.

Countries

Hungary

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026