Transfusion
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Blood transfusion is the most common procedure performed in American hospitals, and transfusions are commonly ordered by physicians without formal training in transfusion medicine. Several transfusion medicine curricula have been proposed, including those developed through the Transfusion Medicine Academic Awards (TMAA). To our knowledge, no comprehensive study has assessed how transfusion medicine is incorporated into undergraduate medical education. ⋯ Transfusion medicine content in American undergraduate medical education is variable and the influence of the TMAA program on contemporary medical school curricula is questionable. Future efforts in this area should focus on standardizing and improving undergraduate medical education in transfusion medicine.
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Obstetric hemorrhage is a leading cause of maternal and perinatal mortality worldwide. Intraoperative blood salvage is common practice in many surgical specialties but its safety in obstetrics is questioned for concerns on the risks of contamination of recovered blood with amniotic fluid (AF) and of maternal-fetal alloimmunization. However, the role of cell salvage as a blood-saving measure in obstetrics is progressively acquiring relevance thanks to the growing body of evidence regarding its quality and safety coming from over 800 documented procedures and more than 400 patients transfused with saved blood. ⋯ The contamination of the SB by fetal Rh-mismatched red blood cells (RBCs) can be dealt with using RhIG; ABO incompatibility tends to be a minor problem since ABO antigens are not fully developed at birth. Antibodies can be formed against other fetal RBC antigens, but it should also be noted that the risk of alloimmunization of the mother from allogeneic transfusion is probably even greater. Therefore, intraoperative cell salvage in obstetrics should be considered in patients at high risk for hemorrhage or in cases where allogeneic blood transfusion is difficult or impossible.
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We used a multicenter retrospective cohort study design to evaluate whether human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antibody donor screening would reduce the risk of transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) or possible TRALI. ⋯ TRALI incidence in recipients of anti-HLA-positive components was relatively low for a lookback study (1 in 170) and was higher than in the control arm, but did not reach significance. Based on this trend, the data are consistent with the likelihood that TRALI risk is decreased by selecting high-volume plasma components for transfusion from donors at low risk of having HLA antibodies.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Infusion of P-Capt prion-filtered red blood cell products demonstrate acceptable in vivo viability and no evidence of neoantigen formation.
Transmission of variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (vCJD) is a major concern in blood transfusion. The P-Capt filter has been shown to remove around 4 log ID(50) prion infectivity from prion-spiked human red blood cells (RBCs). ⋯ P-Capt-filtered, stored RBCs demonstrated acceptable viability and no detectable neoantigen expression, immunogenic responses. or safety issues after infusion of a complete unit. The additional filtration time and modest reduction in RBC content are within acceptable levels for implementation in countries with transfusion transmission of vCJD.