Transfusion
-
Review Case Reports
How do I allocate blood products at the end of life? An ethical analysis with suggested guidelines.
Blood products are scarce resources requiring prudent and reasoned allocation. The utilization of red blood cells and platelets in terminally ill patients can be complicated and requires guidelines tempered by individualized considerations. ⋯ Relevant literature is reviewed and ethical issues pertaining to each case are discussed. A practical approach to blood product utilization at the end of life is suggested.
-
Red blood cell (RBC) transfusion is common in intensive care unit (ICU) patients and is associated with complications that appear related to the duration of blood storage. We hypothesize that hemolysis of stored RBCs results in increases in the availability of non-heme-bound iron, which inhibits macrophage activation. ⋯ Hemolysis products increased significantly over time in our stored RBCs. Ferric compounds and plasma from stored blood inhibit THP-1 cell activation. Plasma inhibition does not appear to be due primarily to increased iron. Further studies are needed to define the inhibitory effect of stored blood plasma on macrophage function. Complications related to blood storage are relevant to our PICU patients.
-
Red blood cell (RBC) alloimmunization is a major problem in chronically transfused patients because of the risk of hemolytic reactions and limited availability of compatible blood. This study was aimed at determining the characteristics of RBC alloimmunization in transfusion-dependent patients with myelodysplastic syndrome or chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (MDS/CMML). ⋯ RBC alloimmunization occurs in 15% of MDS/CMML patients on chronic transfusion support and mostly involves the Rh system and Kell. Transfusing these patients with extended antigen-matched blood, including Kell and CcEe antigens, would presumably reduce the RBC immunization rate.
-
Admission platelet (PLT) counts are known to be associated with all-cause mortality for seriously injured patients admitted to a trauma center. The course of subsequent PLT counts, their implications, and the effects of PLT therapy are less well known. ⋯ Admission PLT counts in critically injured trauma patients are usually normal, decreasing after admission. Low PLT counts at admission and during the course of trauma care are strongly associated with mortality.
-
The combination of patient blood management (PBM) modalities and multicomponent apheresis permits us to administer even safer transfusions than those using the "safer-than-ever" blood components distributed in the beginning of the 21st century. PBM identifies a patient at risk of transfusion and formulates a multidisciplinary and multimodal-yet individualized-plan for reducing the need for allogeneic transfusion. Multicomponent apheresis can collect any combination of red blood cells, platelets, and plasma from the same donor during the same donation, and it should eventually reserve all components harvested from the same donation for transfusion to the same recipient. ⋯ PBM and multicomponent apheresis can meet a patient's transfusion needs with at least twofold fewer allogeneic donor exposures, thereby reducing the risk of infectious and immunologic complications of transfusion by at least twofold. The reduction in risk includes the leading cause of transfusion-related mortality (transfusion-related acute lung injury) and the cardinal threat to transfusion safety (the next "HIV-like" pathogen to emerge in the future). Once it is determined that PBM and multicomponent apheresis can replace the current blood-procurement system at a "reasonable" cost and without jeopardizing the supply of blood and components, the patient-centric paradigm should replace the current, component-centric paradigm of transfusion medicine to reduce the transfusion risk to the level of the ALARA risk.