Transfus Apher Sci
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The Formosa Fun Coast explosion, occurring in a recreational water park located in the Northern Taiwan on 27 June 2015, made 499 people burn-injured. For those who had severe burn trauma, surgical intervention and fluid resuscitation were necessary, and potential blood transfusion therapy could be initiated, especially during and after broad escharotomy. Here, we reviewed the literature regarding transfusion medicine and skin grafting as well as described the practicing experience of combined tissue and blood bank in the burn disaster in Taiwan. ⋯ The sterile zone was a class 10000 clean room equipped with high efficiency particulate air filter (HEPAF) and positive air pressure ventilation. The combined tissue and blood bank has been able to provide the assigned blood products and tissue graft timely and accurately, with the concepts of centralized management. In the future, the training of tissue and blood bank technicians would be continued and fortified, particularly on the regulation and quality control for further bio- and hemovigilance.
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Clinical Trial Observational Study
End-of-life decisions in surgical intensive care medicine - the relevance of blood transfusions.
End-of-life decisions (EOLDs) are common in the intensive care unit (ICU). EOLDs underlie a dynamic process and limitation of ICU-therapies is often done sequentially. Questionnaire-based and observational studies on medical ICUs and in palliative care reveal blood transfusions as the first therapy physicians withhold as an EOLD. ⋯ Limitation orders for blood transfusions are not a prioritized decision in EOLDs of surgical ICU patients. Withholding blood transfusions correlates with discontinuation of further significant life-support therapies. This suggests that EOLDs to withhold blood transfusions are part of the most advanced limitations of therapy on the surgical ICU.
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Pregnancy is a high-risk period for various types of thrombotic microangiopathies (TMA). The improvement of our understanding of the pathophysiology of TMAs has translated into better management of pregnancy-related TMAs. The two main types of TMA, TTP (thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura) and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), can both occur during pregnancy and postpartum. ⋯ Accumulating data indicate that pregnancy-HUS is an atypical, i.e., complement-mediated HUS, triggered by pregnancy. Its treatment therefore should include the use of the anti-C5 humanized monoclonal antibody eculizumab. In other TMA-like disorders associated with pregnancy, including HELLP (hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, low platelets) and pre-eclampsia/eclampsia, complement involvement, and the need for specific anti-complement therapies, is an active area of investigation.
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Editorial Historical Article
The multifaceted aspects of blood cell-derived microparticles: An intriguing aspect of my past subject of studies.