Population
Patients with myelodysplastic syndrome, (n=38).
Intervention
Restrictive transfusion threshold (80 g/l, to maintain haemoglobin 85-100 g/l), (n=20).
Comparison
Liberal transfusion threshold (105 g/l, to maintain haemoglobin 110-125 g/l), (n=18).
Outcome
The compliance proportion for the intention-to-treat population was 86% and 99% for restrictive and liberal arms respectively. Mean pre-transfusion haemoglobin concentrations for restrictive and liberal arms were 80 g/l (SD6) and 97 g/l (SD7). The total number of red cell units transfused on study was 82 in the restrictive and 192 in the liberal arm. In an exploratory analysis, the five main QoL domains were improved for participants in the liberal compared to restrictive arm.