Acute Care Edinburgh

RESULT Hip

NIHR have agreed in principal to fund RESULT Hip which is a £2.3 M grant to conduct a clinical trial of blood transfusion strategy in people with hip fracture.

Hip fracture is the most common reason for older people require emergency anaesthesia and surgery and the most common cause of death after an accident. This surgery is often high-risk as patients with hip fracture may already be frail and have other health problems such as heart disease and anaemia.

Research suggests that 30-40% of these patients have a blood transfusion around the time of operation. These patients often already have anaemia before surgery and lose more blood during their operations.

The study is led by Professors Mike Gillies and Tim Walsh through the Edinburgh Clinical Trials Unit. It will investigate whether a liberal or restrictive transfusion strategy around the time of surgery is more beneficial to patients. RESULT Hip will aim to recruit almost 2000 patients from 30 UK sites over 4 years.