Transfusion reaction: a reappraisal of surgical incidence and significance

Analytic Reviews : Hemolytic Transfusion Reactions: A Review of Mechanisms, Sequelae, and Management

The transfusion of blood and blood products is an im portant therapeutic procedure, but it is associated with several potentially serious adverse effects. Among these complications are hemalytic reactions, which in most cases result from the interaction between donor red cell antigens and recipient plasma antibodies. Clinical mani festations and sequelae are largely determined by the physical and immunological characteristics of the anti gens and antibodies. Early recognition may be difficult in the anesthetized or intensively monitored patient. Acute hemolytic reactions are responsible for significant morbidity and mortality and may lead to life-threatening shock, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and renal failure. Fortunately, fatal hemolytic transfusion reactions are rare; they usually result from clerical errors. Proper diagnosis and management requires sound clinical judg ment, thorough laboratory investigation, and timely therapeutic intervention.

Blood transfusion reactions in children: associated factors

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the profile of blood transfusion reactions in children and to identify the involved factors.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study in a tertiary pediatric teaching hospital from the public healthcare system, involving all children admitted from January to July of 2011 (5,437), of which 1,226 received blood transfusions, constituting the sample. A documental study was performed by analyzing files from the hemovigilance service and notification forms of transfusion reactions. The variables investigated were: number and type of blood components transfused, transfusion site, reaction site, age, gender, type of blood components involved, type of incident, and previous history of multiple transfusions. A descriptive and inferential analysis was performed, using statistical tests to establish the association between the variables.

RESULTS

There were 57 transfusion incidents involving 47 children and 72 different blood products, thus constituting a prevalence of reactions of 3.8%. At the inferential analysis, the chi-squared test showed that the following variables were significantly associated (p<0.05) with the type of reaction: age range and type of blood component. Similarly, the patient's underlying disease was associated with previous history of transfusion incident and type of blood component.

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of transfusion reactions in children is high, and the intervening factors are: type of blood component, age, patient comorbidity, and multiple transfusions; type of blood component and age are also associated with type of reaction.

Pyrogen reaction and conversion of sustained ventricular tachycardia to sinus rhythm: two case reports

Introduction

Pyrogen reaction is a side effect of intravenous infusion of solution on body; sustained ventricular tachycardia is a serious arrhythmia, no relationship between them has been reported before.

Case presentation

Two patients with sustained ventricular tachycardia refractory to lidocaine happened to have pyrogen reaction. The sustained ventricular tachycardia was converted to sinus rhythm after the pyrogen reaction.

Conclusion

The conversion of sustained ventricular tachycardia might be related to pyrogen reaction. The effects of pyrogen reaction on sustained ventricular tachycardia need further research.

Pyrogen reaction and conversion of sustained ventricular tachycardia to sinus rhythm: two case reports

INTRODUCTION

Pyrogen reaction is a side effect of intravenous infusion of solution on body; sustained ventricular tachycardia is a serious arrhythmia, no relationship between them has been reported before.

CASE PRESENTATION

Two patients with sustained ventricular tachycardia refractory to lidocaine happened to have pyrogen reaction. The sustained ventricular tachycardia was converted to sinus rhythm after the pyrogen reaction.

CONCLUSION

The conversion of sustained ventricular tachycardia might be related to pyrogen reaction. The effects of pyrogen reaction on sustained ventricular tachycardia need further research.

Signs and symptoms associated with the transfusion of WBC-reduced RBCs and non-WBC-reduced RBCs in patients with anemia and HIV infection: results from the Viral Activation Transfusion Study

BACKGROUND

RBC transfusion is associated with fever and other reactions in some patients. The Viral Activation Transfusion Study randomly assigned patients to receive either unmodified or WBC-reduced RBCs and thus offered an opportunity to assess the effect of WBC-reduced RBCs on the incidence of transfusion reactions prospectively.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS

This prospective, randomized, double-blind, multicenter study compared prestorage WBC-reduced RBCs to unmodified RBCs in HIV-infected, CMV-seropositive, and transfusion-naive persons who required transfusions for anemia. Primary endpoints were survival and change in the plasma HIV RNA level at 7 days after transfusion. The incidence of transfusion reactions was prospectively evaluated.

RESULTS

The two groups had similar baseline characteristics and study endpoints; 3864 RBC units (median storage age, 9 days) were administered to 531 patients during 1745 transfusions. The most frequent signs reported were elevated temperature and hypotension. Subjects who reported fever within the week prior to transfusion were more likely to have an elevation in temperature associated with transfusion. The administration of RBCs that were less than 10 days old was associated with a marginal increase in the incidence of transfusion-associated temperature elevation among recipients of unmodified RBCs, but not among recipients of WBC-reduced RBCs. Caregivers reported fewer instances of both elevated temperature and hypotension than were identified by review of transfusion records.

CONCLUSIONS

The incidence of elevated temperature and hypotension associated with transfusion in this population was unexpectedly high. Use of WBC-reduced RBCs had no effect on the overall rates of elevated temperature or hypotension associated with transfusion of RBCs. The occurrence of a pre-existing fever was associated with a higher frequency of transfusion-associated elevated temperature.

[Immuno-hemolytic transfusion reactions. IV. Analysis, risks and prevention]

The immunological risk of red blood cell transfusions now seems higher than the viral risk. According to studies, severe accidents due to blood incompatibility occur with a frequency estimated at 1/6000 to 1/29000; despite technical progress, the risk does not significantly diminish. The majority of accidents do not originate from laboratory or production stages but from defects in the application of clinical procedures. Preventive measures are based on (i) the elaboration of clinical guidelines, (ii) the compliance to strict rules in carrying out bedside ABO check, and (iii) the realization and interpretation of antibody screening tests. The implementation of quality assurance systems and of the epidemiological surveillance system, which define the basis of a prevention policy, leads to the expectation of an improvement of transfusion safety.

Autotransfusion in urology: Control study on 59 cases

We studied the hematologic and clinical patterns of 59 patients undergoing urologic surgery who entered in a predeposit autologous blood transfusion program and of 59 controls to evaluate the feasibility and safety of the autotransfusional procedure in Urology. 174 units of autologous blood were donated (average 2.94 per pt.) with a high frequency of donation (2.6 days). No side effect or alteration of performance status was reported. We had a dramatic reduction of the need for homologous blood (2.21 units per pt.) without a significant difference of the average hemoglobin concentration between the two groups at discharge from hospital. Autotransfusion has significant advantages compared with conventional transfusion, reducing the complications correlated with homologous blood infusion as also our study demonstrated. Infact 1 post-transfusional hepatitis and 3 complications due to an alteration of coagulation were reported in the control group. The procedure resulted safe and feasible in most urologic operations that require almost two units of blood transfusion.

The risks of blood transfusion: the relative influence of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and non-A, non-B hepatitis

PURPOSE

The acquired immunodeficiency syndrome epidemic has greatly increased concern about the risk of blood transfusion. Many transfusions are now autologous, and when these are not available, both physicians and patients are more likely to question the advisability of transfusion. We evaluate the risk of preoperative blood transfusion and the contribution of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection to that risk.

METHODS

We used decision analysis to characterize the risk associated with HIV infection in days of life lost. The contributions to risk of acute transfusion reaction, hepatitis B, and non-A, non-B hepatitis are also estimated. Sensitivity analyses show the implications for transfusion risk of recent information about HIV infection in the blood supply and a new test for hepatitis C.

RESULTS

The analysis shows that the contribution of HIV infection to the risk of death from transfusion, expressed in days of life expectancy lost, has become extremely small over the last several years. Currently, HIV infection accounts for less than 1% of the risk of death, while non-A, non-B hepatitis accounts for 97% to 98%. Further reductions in the risk of HIV infection, even to zero, will make relatively little difference in the safety of transfusion. The analysis also shows that the remaining risk from transfusion should decrease sharply, by more than two thirds, with the adoption of the test for hepatitis C.

CONCLUSIONS

Efforts to improve the safety of blood should focus on reducing the risk of non-A, non-B hepatitis. The remaining risk of HIV infection is very small.

A prospective study of the incidence of delayed haemolytic transfusion reactions following peri-operative blood transfusion

Delayed haemolytic transfusion reactions (DHTRs) are a recognized sequel of blood transfusion. The true incidence and importance of this complication have been difficult to estimate due to the lack of any prospective studies. We have carried out such a study by testing 530 patients who were transfused during cardiac surgery. 2% of the patients had new red cell alloantibodies detectable 1 week following transfusion. Despite this finding, and the fact that at the time the study was performed pre-transfusion antibody screening of recipients was not routine practice, no DHTRs were diagnosed on clinical or laboratory criteria. These results indicate that the reported incidences, based on retrospective recognition of DHTRs, are not a serious underestimate of the frequency of the complication.

Predeposit autologous blood transfusions in patients undergoing irradiation and radical cystectomy

We have used blood withdrawn electively and frozen for later use by the donor in 25 patients with bladder cancer who were treated by preoperative irradiation and radical cystectomy. Patients donated 1 to 5 units of blood (average 3.4 per patient). We transfused 10 patients with only autologous blood, whereas 15 required some homologous blood in addition to their own banked blood. The program was well tolerated and repeated blood donation did not compromise the effectiveness of preoperative irradiation. Our preliminary data show that this program reduces the dependence on volunteer donor homologous blood transfusions for cystectomy, thus, decreasing the potential risk of an adverse reaction and avoiding seasonal blood bank shortages.

Controlled hypotensive anesthesia to reduce blood loss in radical cystectomy for bladder cancer

Controlled intraoperative hypotension has been reported to reduce blood loss in major cancer operations. We did a retrospective evaluation on the effects of induced controlled hypotensive anesthesia using enflurane or trimethaphan compared to standard normotensive anesthesia in 37 consecutive patients who were undergoing single stage radical cystectomy with pelvic lymphadenectomy and bilateral ureteroileal cutaneous urinary diversion. Group 1 contained 16 patients who received induced hypotensive anesthesia and group 2 contained 21 patients who received normotensive anesthesia. Average age, pathological stage, and hematocrit values preoperatively and 5 days postoperatively were not significantly different. The average blood loss in group 1 was 821 plus or minus 78 cc and in group 2 it was 1,740 plus or minus 132 cc, a difference of 919 cc (p less than 0.001). Concomitantly, total blood replacement was significantly different. The hypotensive group required an average of 1.38 plus or minus 0.25 units or 700 plus or minus 100 cc and the normotensive group averaged 3.25 plus or minus 0.45 units or 1,600 plus or minus 225 cc (p less than 0.05). In addition, only 69 per cent of the hypotensive group required blood replacement compared to 90 per cent of the normotensive group. Our data demonstrate that controlled hypotensive anesthesia markedly reduces blood loss for radical bladder cancer surgery.

Blood conservation techniques

Increasing numbers of operations requiring cardiopulmonary bypass have been accompanied by greater demands for blood resources. Improved techniques of blood conservation have diminished the average blood requirements per operation and have increased the percent of operations that can be done without homologous blood. The conservation of blood can be planned according to each patient's requirements. The techniques include preoperative blood donation, intraoperative withdrawal of blood, reinfusion of oxygenator blood, autotransfusion of blood after heparin neutralization, autotransfusion after wound closure, and hemodilution. The availability of techniques for filtration, centrifugation, and washing of blood have improved the safety of autotransfusion. The techniques that gives the best cost/benefit ratio appear to be preoperative withdrawal of blood, reinfusion of centrifuged oxygenator contents, and reinfusion of filtered blood from chest drainage.

Relative risk factors in the treatment of juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma

The potentially fatal complications associated with surgery and radiation therapy in the management of juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma (JNA) are analyzed. Quantitative risk factors established from review of the literature suggest a risk of potentially fatal complications of 1 in 3,000 from general anesthesia, 1 in 1,600 from arteriography, 1 in 160 from blood transfusion, and 1 in 500 from the surgical procedure itself. The total of these risks is comparable to the 1% lifetime risk of developing a radiation-induced tumor after radiation therapy. The time pattern of these complications differs in that fatal radiation-induced complications are delayed, whereas the risks associated with surgery, general anesthesia, and blood transfusion are more immediate. However, it is suggested that treatment-related risks of fatal complications are of a similar order of magnitude for surgery and for radiation therapy in the management of JNA.

Clinical presentation of haemolytic transfusion reactions

Haemolytic transfusion reactions can be defined as the occurrence after transfusion of measurably increased destruction of red cells, of donor or recipient, by alloantibodies. They may be acute (occurring within 24 hours of transfusion) or delayed (when signs of red cell destruction do not occur until 4 to 10 days after transfusion). The severest signs and symptoms of acute reactions follow intravascular red cell lysis and progress to anaemia, fever, haemoglobinuria and jaundice. The subjective responses of pain, restlessness, nausea, skin flushing, dyspnoea and shock are mediated by cleavage products of complement (C3a, C5a) activated by red cell antigen-antibody reaction. The bleeding and renal failure complications that follow are multi-factoral in aetiology but also stem from the activation of intravascular clotting and from the vasomotor disturbances following histamine and kinin release.

Clinical presentation of nonhaemolytic transfusion reactions

Due to the sophistication of red cell compatibility testing, the majority of transfusion reactions are non-haemolytic in origin. This paper reviews the clinical presentation of these reactions, emphasising that blood transfusion reaction must always be considered in the differential diagnosis when a patient develops unexpected complications during his hospital stay. Fever, allergic reactions, respiratory distress, hypotension and jaundice may all be manifestations of a transfusion reaction.