Patient Blood Management: Future Perspective in Korea

Blood transfusion is an essential medical procedure that can save the patient’s life. But, it is anticipated that blood transfusion products will be lacking in Korea in the near future. This is due to the fact that eligible blood donors—the young population—are decreasing, whereas blood recipients—the elderly population—are increasing. Low birth rate and aging society have become big social problems in Korea recently. Korea’s birth rate is the lowest among OECD countries, which is 1.17 in 2016 [1]. The elderly population aged 65 or older is 13.8% in 2017 and it is expected to be over 20% in 2026, becoming a super-aged society. Aging populations present higher risks of malignancies and chronic diseases; and are more likely to require complex surgical interventions [2]. If unnecessary blood transfusions are to be decreased, we would be able to prevent waste of precious blood resources and to save significant amount of healthcare costs [3]. In Australia, the NBA estimated that a 5% reduction in RBC use would result in a national saving of AUD14.6 million [4]. Beyond the economic savings, this also means ameliorating blood transfusion related risks to the patients. Blood transfusion is still not free of the risks of complications such as infection and immunomodulation, although they are dramatically decreased through the advances in transfusion medicine. Furthermore, this is providing the best care to the patients because it is now well known that transfusion may lead to poorer patient outcomes, such as survival rates [5-7]. So, increasing the adequacy of blood transfusion is the strategy for not only preventing wastage of precious blood resources and blood shortage, but also providing patients with the best treatments by decreasing risk of complications.