A patient with severe thermal injury may develop anemia. This is a mixed anemia that may be related to interaction of multiple mechanisms. Management is based on the underlying cause at that moment.
Conditions that may contribute to the anemia of thermal injury:
(1) acute blood loss from associated trauma, wound hemorrhage and surgery
(2) erythrocyte damage with hemolysis
(3) anemia of critical illness (blunted erythropoiesis, reduced erythropoietin production)
(4) acute red blood cell sequestration
(5) iatrogenic blood loss from blood testing
(6) nutritional deficiency
In general transfusion therapy is restrictive with target hemoglobin >= 7.0 for many patients. This is supported by addressing the causes of anemia.
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