The latest transfusion updates and events for May

Patient information  

• Gender Neutral Assessment - Patient Fact Sheet  on recent Lifeblood changes to donor assessment.  

Meetings  

• The Blood Synergy and OPTIMAL Centre of Research Excellence Open Meeting will take place on Monday 24 August 2026 (in person or online). Click here to register and view the provisional program which is now available.   
• Blood Management in Maternity Care Study Day: Blood Matters invites all clinical staff working in maternity care to a virtual blood management study day on Tuesday, 16 June 2026. Click here to register and see an overview of the topics covered.   
• The Haematology in Obstetrics & Women’s Health (HOW) Collaborative Symposium at the ISTH Congress in Paris in July 2026 is now available as online registration. Live streaming of the meeting will be available, and online and in-person registrants will also have access to recordings of the meeting following the event. Click here to register and view the program.  

Publications   

• Restrictive versus liberal transfusion strategies in burn patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical outcomes (2026) found that restrictive transfusion thresholds do not increase adverse outcomes in burn patients and may be clinically safe when active bleeding is absent.  
• American Burn Association Clinical Practice Guideline on Blood Product Transfusion in Burn Care (2025)  
• Prehospital Resuscitation with Type O Whole Blood for Trauma and Hemorrhage (TOWAR) trial (2026) found that the use of whole blood for prehospital transfusion did not result in lower 30-day mortality than the use of blood components in injured patients with haemorrhagic shock.  
• The Study of Whole Blood in Frontline Trauma (SWiFT) trial (2026) found that prehospital transfusion of up to two units of whole blood was not superior to standard blood components in reducing the risk of death or massive transfusion within 24 hours in patients with life-threatening traumatic haemorrhage.    
• Whole-Blood vs Component Therapy in Adult Trauma - An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2026) found that the transfusion of whole blood was associated with reduced mortality in civilian but not military adult trauma patients, though there was substantial heterogeneity, ‘indicating that benefits may vary considerably across settings.’