• Lucia De Zen, Irene Del Rizzo, Vittoria Vendrametto, Francesca Nicolardi, Silvia Vaccher, Roberto Dall'Amico, Marco Rabusin, Egidio Barbi, and Eva Passone.
• Centre for Pediatric Palliative Care and Pain Therapy (L.D.Z.), Institute for Maternal and Child Health Burlo Garofolo, Trieste, Italy.
• J Pain Symptom Manage. 2022 Feb 1; 63 (2): e246-e251.

BackgroundWhile hematological symptoms are considered difficult to manage in a Pediatric Palliative Care setting, home may still represent a safe and convenient place for transfusions in patients with advanced malignancy or chronic conditions. This research focuses on the safety and feasibility of a home transfusion program.MethodsThis is a case series of patients between 0 and 18 years diagnosed with advanced malignancy or incurable chronic conditions and eligible to Pediatric Palliative Care who received home platelet or packed red cell transfusions. For all patients, we recorded adverse events such as acute hemolytic reactions, allergic reactions, or any emergency condition requiring hospital admission, equipment failure, blood product transport or storage errors, errors in patient identification, and personnel safety issues. We explored parental satisfaction with a Likert-type questionnaire and short open questions.ResultsWe reviewed 101 transfusion procedures for six patients in Pediatric Palliative Care performed by the Regional Pediatric Palliative Care network between 2014 and 2020. We did not report any adverse effects. Families reported satisfaction and a sense of safety and positively evaluated the opportunity of having transfusion at home to minimize the disruption in everyday life. The cost analysis resulted in a consistent saving for the Regional Health System.ConclusionThis study supports the safety and feasibility of home transfusion in Pediatric Palliative Care.Copyright © 2021 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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