A Comprehensive Review of Blood Product Use in Civilian Mass Casualty Events

The authors discuss findings from a comprehensive literature search specific to blood use after mass casualty incidents. Their goal was to determine if post-MCI blood requirements were predictable. A median of 38 units of packed red blood cells was used per incident, with an average of 55 casualties. However, victims of terrorist events that were severely injured required an average of 5.9 units of packed cells each. These findings may help with predicting blood product needs based on event type and the number of casualties.