Another important risk factor for increased morbidity and mortality appears to be postoperative red blood cell transfusion, as shown by Mohnle et al. [16] , who analysed a cohort of 945 patients with a low-to-moderate risk profile after coronary artery bypass grafting among 5,436 patients enrolled in an international multicentre trial. Patients receiving red blood cell transfusions had a higher likelihood of experiencing cardiac events or harvest site infections, and suffered from impaired composite morbidity outcome which included hospital mortality, renal failure, pneumonia and mediastinitis.