A Prospective Study of the Application of Transfusions in a Field Hospital during the War in Croatia

Abstract

Use of blood products are recommended worldwide as a substitution for whole blood. In the case of war wounds, because of their specificity, this is not possible. We studied prospectively the use of blood and blood products during management of the wounded in a field hospital during the war in Croatia. During a 6-month period, 178 soldiers out of a total number of 593 were hospitalized, and of this number 64 (36%) received transfusions. Localization of the wound, and speed and quality of first aid had significant effects on the average amount of blood used. Consequently, norms for blood use in wartime in west European countries and NATO are lower than what we used for each wounded patient. Ensuring an adequate amount of whole blood still remains one of the primary tasks of the transfusion service in wartime.