Plasma free haemoglobin, sublingual microvascular parameters and NIRS-derived variables in the two groups (baseline and 1 hour after blood transfusion).

aThese data have been already presented in part in [16] as “non-leukodepleted group”. bpre vs. post, Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test. cbetween-group comparison of delta [after-before] values, Mann-Whitney U test. Data are expressed as median (interquartile range). RBCs = red blood cells; MFI = microvascular flow index; TVD = total vessel density; PVD = perfused vessel density; PPV = proportion of perfused vessels; HI = flow heterogeneity index; THI = tissue hemoglobin index; StO2 = tissue oxygen saturation; AUC StO2 = area under the curve of the StO2 (reactive hyperemia following the vascular occlusion test); PBR = perfused boundary region. MFI, TVD, PVD, PPV and HI were calculated in small vessels (diameter <20 μm). Plasma free haemoglobin, sublingual microvascular parameters and NIRS-derived variables in the two groups (baseline and 1 hour after blood transfusion).