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The aim of this investigation was to assess the rate and appropriate use of fresh frozen plasma (FFP) at the Clinical Hospital Center Rijeka in two six-month periods, at an interval of 5 years, before and after introducing clinical standards for transfusion practice and hemovigilance, and to evaluate the results of applied measures. We studied 315 patients transfused with 1341 doses of FFP in two six-month periods from September to February of 1999/2000 and 2004/2005. The first period (1999/00) of the study was retrospective and 226 patients were transfused with 928 FFP units. The second period (2004/05) was prospective and we studied 89 patients transfused with 413 units. In the first period blood bank records were retrospectively reviewed and in the second period all FFP requests, performed coagulation tests and transfusion episodes were prospectively analyzed. The number of inappropriate transfusions decreased from 39.8% to 23.6%. In most patients (85.1%), coagulation tests were made prior to FFP transfusion. The number of patients transfused with one and two FFP doses decreased, while those transfused with three or more doses increased. Most of the appropriately transfused patients were those with active bleeding due to coagulation factor deficiency and massive transfusions. The least were those requiring reversal of warfarin effect. Our results demonstrated a decrease in the number of patients treated with FFP in the second period. The introduction of clinical standards of good transfusion practice and hemovigilance showed positive effects. Considering that there was a number of inappropriately transfused patients continued education of all health personnel engaged in transfusion treatment is evidently necessary.

Number of researches dealing with the influence of the ABO blood group antigens on the development of the oral cancer have hypothesized that people who do not secrete these substances in the saliva are more prone to suffer from this disease. The objective of this research is to examine this hypothesis. In total 114 subjects were examined, half of which suffered from oral cancer, while the other half was the healthy control group. All examinees were subjected to clinical examinations and the experimental group to pathohistological examination. An analysis of the secretor status was carried out using the Wiener agglutination test. The experimental group consisted of 78.95% of secretors, while the control group consisted of 82.46% of secretors. This difference is not statistically significant. The starting hypothesis that non-secretors are more prone to the development of oral cancer was not confirmed.