Hemorrhage is one of the main causes of death after trauma. Approximately 40% of severely injured patients die as a result of acute exsanguination [1]. Uncontrolled hemorrhage after trauma is often associated with acidosis, hypothermia and coagulopathy, forming the so-called "lethal triad" [2]. Recently, acute traumatic coagulopathy (ATC) has been identified as a key factor to trigger ongoing hemorrhage after trauma [3]. Ongoing hemorrhage, when combined with ATC, is frequently not controlled by current resuscitation protocols using crystalloids and transfusion of packed red blood cell (pRBC) concentrates [2]. As a consequence, several authors have advocated the early use of fresh frozen plasma (FFP) to control ATC in the early phase after trauma. Despite persistent conflicting data on this issue due to suboptimal methodologies, different retrospective studies have demonstrated a survival benefit of transfusion strategies using an early and more balanced ratio between FFP and pRBC transfusions in patients with ATC requiring massive transfusion within the first 24 hours after hospital admission (≥10 U of pRBCs) [2, 4–11]. These analyses, however, have not attempted to determine whether patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) had the same association of improved survival with increased FFP:pRBC ratios. Head-injured patients are particularly prone to developing acute coagulation disorders, and the frequency of these disorders upon emergency room (ER) arrival in patients with blunt TBI has been reported to be as high as 22.7% [12]. In patients with TBI, there is a component of local tissue release of thromboplastin and low platelets. The aim of the present study was to analyze whether a transfusion regimen using a high FFP:pRBC ratio (FFP:pRBC ratio >1:2) would be associated with a similar survival benefit in severely injured patients with TBI (AIS score, head ≥3) as previously demonstrated for patients without TBI requiring massive transfusion (≥10 U of pRBCs).

We conducted a retrospective analysis of data from severely injured patients documented in the TraumaRegistry of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Unfallchirurgie (TR-DGU).

Data analysis

Inclusion criteria for the present analysis were primary admission, patient age ≥16 years, severe injury (ISS ≥16) and massive transfusion (≥10 U of pRBCs) from the ER until ICU admission. Patients who died within the first hour after admission were excluded. Patients were subdivided into patients with TBI (AIS score, head ≥3) and patients without TBI (AIS score, head <3) and according to the ratio of plasma to blood that they received during the initial massive transfusion: high (FFP:pRBC ratio >1:2) or low (FFP:pRBC ratio ≤1:2). The FFP:pRBC ratio distribution is shown in Figure 1. All transfused FFP was fresh and frozen (that is, no thawed plasma). Only pRBCs and FFP that had been transfused between ER and ICU admissions were considered. The mean time (± standard deviation (SD)) from ER arrival to ICU admission, including emergency operative procedure time, was 331 ± 144 minutes. The mean time (±SD) required for initial diagnostic procedures and treatment in the ER was 65 ± 42 minutes.

The primary outcome was mortality (6 hours, 24 hours 30 days as well as overall in-hospital mortality). Secondary outcomes included sepsis (defined by Bone et al. [13] as adequate symptoms in combination with evidence of germs), multiorgan failure (defined by Sepsis-Related Organ Failure Assessment score ≥3), ventilator-free days (calculated for a total of 30 days), ICU length of stay and hospital length of stay (HLOS).

Although there is still debate about the early and aggressive use of FFP in a more balanced 1:1 ratio to pRBCs to correct ATC, the majority of studies published to date have emphasized its use and have associated this approach with improved survival rates among severe trauma patients requiring massive transfusions [4, 6–11, 15, 16]. These studies, however, have not attempted to determine whether TBI patients have the same association of improved survival with a more balanced transfusion of FFP and pRBCs. In patients with TBI, there is a component of local tissue release of thromboplastin and low platelets. In the present study, we retrospectively investigated whether a high FFP:pRBC transfusion ratio (FFP:pRBC ratio >1:2) during massive transfusion (≥10 U of pRBCs) in the acute phase after trauma would be associated with a similar survival benefit in patients with TBI as was previously observed for patients without TBI.

As we describe in the Results, the rates for acute and late mortality were both lower in high FFP:pRBC ratio groups compared to low FFP:pRBC ratio groups, regardless of the presence or absence of TBI. Despite the fact that mortality rates in patients with TBI were generally higher compared to patients without TBI, obviously due to the higher magnitude of overall injury sustained, this result indicates that the concept of a high transfusion ratio approach in the acute trauma setting requiring massive transfusion may also be beneficial for patients with accompanying TBI. This assumption is further supported by the results from our logistic regression analysis, which identified a high FFP:pRBC ratio to be an independent predictor for survival, especially in TBI patients. As the high FFP:pRBC ratio effect on survival has been observed as an early effect, immediate introduction of this approach after ER admission may be of crucial importance as soon as clinical and laboratory signs indicate an individual at risk for massive transfusion. To support the clinician, several scoring systems to enable early identification of patients at risk for massive transfusion and to predict the probability for massive transfusion at a very early stage have been developed and validated, such as the Assessment of Blood Consumption score or the predictive model for massive transfusion described by Cotton et al. [17] and McLaughlin et al. [18]. Recently, our group [19, 20] has introduced the Trauma Associated Severe Hemorrhage score as a useful instrument to calculate the probability of massive transfusion as a surrogate for life-threatening hemorrhage after severe trauma.

Patients with TBI are at increased risk for developing coagulation abnormalities in the acute phase after trauma, and the clinical frequency of these disorders in blunt TBI patients has been estimated to be as high as 22.7% [12]. The coagulopathy after TBI is thought to be the result of injury-mediated local release of thromboplastin into the systemic circulation, although the precise mechanisms that cause systemic coagulopathy after TBI are as yet unknown [12, 21, 22]. In 1979, Mauersberger [23] concluded on the basis of his clinical investigations that the release of tissue thromboplastin after severe brain injury can lead to a consumption coagulopathy. Hulka et al. [24] reported a similar coagulopathy after blunt TBI that was associated with a high frequency of death. These observations regarding the early substitution of plasma have been advocated. More recently, Cohen et al. [25] emphasized the role of hypoperfusion and the protein C pathway for the development of coagulopathy after TBI. These authors concluded that TBI alone does not initiate coagulopathy, but must be coupled with hypoperfusion to lead to coagulation derangement associated with the activation of the protein C pathway.

One criticism associated with transfusion of high volumes of FFP during early acute resuscitation after trauma has been related to its potential harmful effects [26]. Potential risks of FFP transfusion include transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) [27], transfusion-associated circulatory overload [28], allergic reaction and transmission of infectious diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B and C viruses and prion diseases [26]. To date, TRALI is the most important cause of transfusion-associated morbidity and mortality [29]. In previous retrospective studies, a trend was observed in that the survival benefit associated with the high FFP:pRBC ratio approach was bought on the account of increasing frequencies of complications, such as nosocomial infections, sepsis and organ failure, resulting in prolonged days on ventilators and increased ICU and overall in-hospital stays [16, 30]. When considering all patients included in the present study, survivors' and nonsurvivors' duration of ventilation, ICU length of stay and HLOS were significantly longer for patients who had received a high FFP:pRBC transfusion ratio. This observation might be due to prolonged survival among patients with a high FFP:pRBC transfusion ratio. When focusing on survivors only, the duration of ventilation, ICU length of stay and HLOS did not differ statistically between the high and low FFP:pRBC transfusion ratio groups. The incidence of multiple organ failure was higher in patients with more severe injuries, including TBI, than in patients without TBI (67% and 71% versus 59% and 56% according to the transfusion ratios, respectively), but did not differ when the transfusion regimens within the two subgroups were compared. Patients with TBI who received a high FFP:pRBC transfusion ratio developed septic coagulation more often than patients of the same group but with a low FFP:pRBC transfusion ratio.

The present observations are limited by the number of included patients and the study's retrospective design. It should also be mentioned that the observed positive effect of the high FFP:pRBC transfusion ratio could be explained at least in part by a selection bias. This means that patients in whom it was possible to administer large amounts of plasma in parallel to pRBC transfusion did not show a dramatic massive blood loss, which would require quick transfusion of large amounts of blood. Administration of FFP usually requires some time for preparation. To minimize this survivorship bias, we excluded a priori patients who died within the first hour after admission and limited the duration of transfusion to initial resuscitation; that is, only blood products were considered that had been transfused between the time of ER arrival and ICU admission. Snyder et al. [31] additionally included the FFP:pRBC transfusion ratio as a time-dependent covariate in their multivariate analysis. However, since the exact timing of transfusion is not documented in the TR-DGU, and only the cumulative amount of transfused blood products between the time of ER arrival and ICU admission is recorded, we were not able to adjust for survivorship bias in our logistic regression model as was done by Snyder et al. [31]. Furthermore, this study is based on registry data only and is thus limited by the lack of a more detailed description of the coagulation management that was performed, for example, platelet transfusion or the administration of other specific coagulation factors. In this context, Perkins et al. [32, 33] and Holcomb et al. [4] previously described the association between the amount of transfused platelets and improved survival. Future research should be conducted with larger patient numbers and using a prospective approach to prove these results.

Despite the ongoing debate with regard to the early, aggressive use of FFP in a more balanced 1:1 ratio to pRBCs in the acute trauma setting to correct coagulation disorders, the present study provides some more detailed information in favor of this approach. The mortality rates were consistently lower in the high FFP:pRBC transfusion ratio groups versus the low FFP:pRBC transfusion ratio groups, regardless of the presence or absence of TBI and at all time points studied, indicating that the concept of a high FFP:pRBC transfusion ratio may also be valid for patients with TBI. Regarding survivors, morbidity was comparable for patients with a low or high FFP:pRBC transfusion ratio, regardless of the presence or absence of TBI.