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One in five severe trauma cases may need prehospital blood

Prehospital transfusion requirements in severe trauma: A multicenter, retrospective estimate of requirements
Injury · Added 13 September 2026

Multicentre French retrospective study applying the ABC score across four Paris-region prehospital services to estimate demand for prehospital blood — 27 of 139 severe trauma patients (19.7%) met ABC ≥2 with prehospital intervention time >20 min and median total prehospital time of 79 min, only 67% of those eligible received TXA, and 5 arrested prehospital, leading the authors to argue prehospital transfusion should not remain a rarity.

Study type

Cohort

Design

Multicentre retrospective observational cohort

Participants

139 severe trauma patients from 5,921 missions across four Paris-region prehospital services

Main finding

27 (19.7%, 95% CI 13.7-26.8%) met ABC ≥2 with prehospital intervention time >20 min; median total intervention time 79 min; 67% of eligible received TXA; five had prehospital cardiac arrest

Caveat

Retrospective with assumed eligibility criteria; French physician-staffed system limits generalisability

Bottom line

Hypothesis-generating

Learning goal

Recognise which severe trauma patients in my practice are likely to need early prehospital blood transfusion.

More

• Topic: Trauma
• Daily scan: 13 September 2026

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