Efficacy and safety of epoetin alfa in critically ...[N Engl J Med. 2007] - PubMed Result

Efficacy and safety of epoetin alfa in critically ...[N Engl J Med. 2007] - PubMed Result

prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, we enrolled 1460 medical, surgical, or trauma patients between 48 and 96 hours after admission to the intensive care unit.

Epoetin alfa (40,000 U) or placebo was administered weekly, for a maximum of 3 weeks; patients were followed for 140 days.

The primary end point was the percentage of patients who received a red-cell transfusion.
Secondary end points were the number of red-cell units transfused, mortality, and the change in hemoglobin concentration from baseline.

The use of epoetin alfa does not reduce the incidence of red-cell transfusion among critically ill patients

may reduce mortality in patients with trauma
associated with an increase in the incidence of thrombotic events.