A survey of fresh frozen plasma use in a teaching hospital in hong kong

Abstract

In response to an acute shortage of fresh frozen plasma (FFP), a survey of its use was conducted in our hospital. The survey was designed to separate the use of FFP into "appropriate use" and "inappropriate use" categories. Whether the use of FFP in a case could be assigned to "appropriate use" category or not was decided by pre-set criteria based on the consensus statement published by the United States National Institute of Health (NIH). We found that during a 30-day period, out of 746 units of FFP used, only 65 (8.7%) could be considered inappropriate use. Most of the FFP (67.6%) was used for liver disease with bleeding and/or abnormal coagulation tests, and for disseminated intravascular coagulopathy. In the "inappropriate use" category (8.7%), the leading causes were plasmapheresis, and hepatobiliary disease with normal coagulation tests and no abnormal bleeding.