Clinical Presentation - Transfusion-Associated Graft-vs- Host Disease (TA-GVHD)

The clinical syndrome consists of fever, skin rash, diarrhea, hepatic dysfunction, and bone marrow aplasia, typically appearing eight to ten days after transfusion.
The outcome has a high fatality rate, with hemorrhage and infection as the most common causes of death.

Mechanism

TA-GVHD results when transfused T lymphocytes present in cellular blood components engraft, multiply, and react against the tissues of the recipient.