Complications of Blood Transfusion
Despite the best diligence of everyone involved in blood transfusion from "vein to vein," indeed from pre-blood donation to post-transfusion, transfusion is not risk free. Clinicians must exercise judgment to determine that the expected benefits of transfusion outweigh the risks.
Complications, transfusion reactions, and adverse events range from mild to life-threatening. They may involve immune or non-immune mechanisms and occur within minutes to days or weeks after transfusion.
A summary of the left menu items is listed below to assist in navigating through Complications:
Clinical Presentation
Signs and symptoms related to transfusion reactions range from none to many and may involve multiple body organs and systems.
Types
Complications can be grouped in many ways. They are commonly arranged in two large categories according to when signs and symptoms appear (immediate or delayed), as well as a third "catch-all" category of miscellaneous other complications.
Investigation
The laboratory investigation can range from minimal to extensive and is dictated by the symptoms and severity of the reaction. Immediate steps to take are discussed in this section.
Treatment
The immediate treatment of the patient is of utmost importance. The physician manages the course of treatment according to the symptoms.
Prevention
Many complications of transfusion can be prevented by the diligent application of quality management principles and practice guidelines to all aspects of the vein-to-vein process, i.e., from blood collection to transfusion.
Documentation & Reporting
Reporting suspected transfusion reactions to the attending physician and the laboratory is one of the first steps to determining the cause and initiating treatment.
As well, there are national reporting requirements for blood suppliers to report serious adverse events of transfusion to Health Canada. Hospital blood transfusion services are encouraged to voluntarily report to their blood supplier, any case in which it is important to remove other components from the same donor(s) from circulation and/or defer the donor to prevent similar reactions in other recipients. The Transfusion Transmitted Injuries Section of Health Canada's Health Care Acquired Infections Division has established a national surveillance system for transfusion-transmitted injuries called the Transfusion Transmitted Injuries Surveillance System (TTISS).