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Short-term effects of blood transfusion on blood volume and resting peripheral blood flow in preterm infants.

The effects of blood transfusion on cardiac output and blood pressure are variable, but resting peripheral blood flow (RPBF) may be a sensitive indicator of changes in blood volume. The purpose of this investigation was to study the effects of red cell transfusion on blood volume (Evans blue), blood pressure, RPBF in the leg (strain-gauge plethysmography) and blood viscosity (cone-plate viscometer) in preterm infants during the first week after birth. Fourteen infants with mean +/- SD birth weight of 1658 +/- 429 g, gestational age 33 +/- 3 weeks and postnatal age 64 +/- 40 h received 18 +/- 4 ml/kg of packed red cells (red cells 11 +/- 2 ml/kg, plasma 7 +/- 1 ml/kg) because their hematocrit was less than 0.45 l/1. Mean blood volume before transfusion was 88 +/- 15 ml/kg. The increase in blood volume (9 +/- 4 ml/kg) measured 4 to 6 h after transfusion was smaller than the transfused volume (18 +/- 4 ml/kg), due to a shift of plasma to the extravascular space. The plasma shift increased with increasing pretransfusion blood volume (r = 0.70; p = 0.007). Red cell transfusion caused an increase in RPBF by 25% (p < 0.01), whereas systolic blood pressure (BP) increased by only 12%. Peripheral resistance (R = BP/RPBF) decreased by 9% (p < 0.01). Blood viscosity (eta) increased by 21% (p < 0.001) and vascular hindrance (R/eta) decreased by 24% (p < 0.001), indicating vasodilatation of limb arteries. The increase in RPBF and the decrease in hindrance were particularly pronounced in infants with high pretransfusion blood volume.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Blood Pressure↗

Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: risk of transmission by blood transfusion and blood therapies.

In the last decade, a new variant of the human prion disease Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (now known as variant CJD or vCJD) was identified and causally linked to dietary exposure to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) during the 1980s and early 1990s. Preliminary studies in animal models suggest that prions can be transmitted by blood. Based on two recent reports of iatrogenic vCJD transmission by blood transfusion in humans, a Department of Health-sponsored risk assessment warned that recipients of plasma therapies are now at risk of contracting vCJD from potentially infected donors. It is believed that all the population may be susceptible to vCJD infection, although clinical cases have so far occurred only in methionine homozygotes at codon 129 in the human prion protein gene. A non-invasive blood-based diagnostic assay is urgently needed. Because the incubation period may be upwards of 40 years and there is no reliable screening test, it is currently unknown how many people may be in an asymptomatic phase of vCJD infection in the UK. However, there remains a distinct possibility that some infected patients may never develop clinical symptoms but will remain asymptomatic carriers who can potentially transmit the disease to other individuals. Therefore, screening of infectious individuals will be a critical component for individuals who rely on blood transfusions and/or blood therapies. In the absence of screening tests or effective therapies to treat this disease, a formidable worldwide public health challenge lies ahead to prevent new infections, accurately assess infection rates and treat infected patients.

Animals↗

Immune effects of blood transfusion.

Blood is a complicated tissue that has been routinely applied over the past century. Since the recognition of the principles of species specificity (1818) and major compatibility for red cell antigens (1900), considerable attention has been given in the second half of this century to leukocyte-determined immune effects following transfusion. Most reactions are febrile and nonhemolytic and show, in limited situations, true relation to immune activity of transfused white blood cells. The complete picture is not yet finished; however, the more important immune effects are stimulation and modulation, tolerance and suppression. Here most work done is ex vivo and in animal experiments. Little clinical evidence has been obtained or assessment done. Most publications therefore relate to laboratory work, extrapolating results to the bedside. The most interesting publication over the review period with regard to the core immune effects of blood transfusion relates to measured concentrations of active, soluble molecules like HLA class I and II and Fas ligand molecules and to their in vitro immunomodulating effect as well as effects on induction of apoptosis. Stored red cell preparations show an increase in soluble molecules and death of viable leukocytes. Platelet preparations show similar phenomena, although information on numbers of white blood cells and storage conditions are lacking. The authors propose selective use of these aged components in specific clinical settings to allow immune suppression, induction of cell anergy, and apoptosis, whereas fresher products not showing increased levels of soluble molecules could be applied in clinical settings in which immunosuppression is not wanted. No reference is found to scientifically support and substantiate the global universal leukodepletion movement.

Humans↗

Blood transfusion and blood conservation: cost and utilization issues.

Approximately 12 million red blood cell units are transfused to nearly 4 million patients annually in the United States (1). The conservation of blood has historically arisen from awareness that the inventory of this resource is limited (2), as well as the knowledge that blood transfusion carries a risk (3). Estimates of current blood transfusion risks (4-12), and the costs of transfusion complications (13-17), are summarized in Table 1. In addition, emphasis on the costs of health care has raised issues related to the costs of blood transfusion (18, 19). Finally, recent guidelines have emphasized that in the elective transfusion setting, no blood transfusion is a desirable outcome (20, 21). Furthermore, these guidelines along with consensus conference recommendations (22) have emphasized that if blood is to be transfused, autologous (the patient's own) blood is preferable to allogeneic (from an anonymous, volunteer donor) blood. Thus, the costs of blood conservation, for which an increasing array of technologic procedures and products have become available (Table 2), have also become an issue (23). The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of emerging data on the cost-effectiveness of blood and blood conservation interventions in order to help identify areas important for future investigation.

Blood Loss, Surgical↗

Impact of autologous blood transfusion on blood support in general thoracic surgery: analysis of 969 patients over a 5-year period.

Autologous blood transfusion (ABT) is increasingly used in order to avoid transfusion-related risks. The effectiveness of this simple and feasible procedure depends on several factors, such as the timing of surgery, the patient's overall condition and, last but not least, the pre-disposition of the medical team towards the routine use of ABT. We report our experience in blood support with ABT for general thoracic surgical patients, indicating an overall partially satisfactory outcome due to a limited use of the procedure. In 1992, 61 patients (38%) received autologous blood only, as compared to 9 patients (6%) who had received ABT in 1989. The average pre-deposit per patient ratio in 1992 was 1.2 units, which provided insufficient autologous blood support. In the same period, only 23 patients were subjected to acute normovolemic hemodilution (ANH). However, we noted a reduction of homologous transfusions from 2.9 +/- < 2.1 in 1989 to 2.0 +/- < 1.5 in 1992 (P < 0.01). In addition, we observed that a single pre-deposit was not enough to enhance erythropoiesis and to improve post-operative red blood cell rescue when performed in patients with Hb > 11 g%. Based on our data, we emphasize a more extensive move to ANH, along with pre-deposit, in order to avoid unnecessary homologous blood transfusions.

Blood Transfusion↗

Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials investigating the risk of postoperative infection in association with white blood cell-containing allogeneic blood transfusion: the effects of the type of transfused red blood cell product and surgical setting.

Previous meta-analyses of the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the association of perioperative allogeneic blood transfusion (ABT) with postoperative bacterial infection included studies transfusing either autologous or white blood cell (WBC)-reduced allogeneic red blood cells (RBCs) or whole blood to the control arm, and they were unable to investigate the type of RBC product administered as an explanation for the disagreements among the studies. The availability of additional RCTs has permitted investigation of this hypothesis in a meta-analysis restricted to RCTs transfusing WBC-reduced allogeneic RBCs or whole blood to the control arm. In this analysis, across 5 RCTs comparing recipients of non-WBC-reduced versus WBC-reduced allogeneic RBCs, there was no difference (P > .25) in the risk of postoperative infection between recipients of buffy-coat-reduced versus WBC-reduced allogeneic RBCs filtered before storage (summary odds ratio [OR] = 1.19; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.87-1.63). In contrast, across 3 RCTs, there was an increased (P < .05) risk of postoperative infection in recipients of non-buffy-coat-reduced allogeneic RBCs, or whole blood, as compared with recipients of WBC-reduced allogeneic RBCs, or whole blood, filtered before or after storage (summary OR = 1.77; 95% CI, 1.02-3.09). Moreover, across 3 RCTs that enrolled patients undergoing open-heart surgery, there was an increased (P < .05) risk of postoperative infection in recipients of buffy-coat-reduced (compared with WBC-reduced) allogeneic RBCs (summary OR = 1.39; 95% CI, 1.08-1.80), but the findings of 5 RCTs that enrolled patients having abdominal surgery could not be combined because of extreme variation in the results of the studies. RCTs conducted in the setting of open-heart surgery or transfusing non-buffy-coat-reduced RBCs or whole blood to the treatment arm had administered various RBC products to the control arm, however, and thus the medical heterogeneity of the studies precludes any conclusion about an immunomodulatory (TRIM) effect of ABT mediated by non-buffy-coat-reduced RBC products. To determine whether such a deleterious immunomodulatory effect of ABT exists, additional RCTs transfusing non-buffy-coat-reduced RBCs to the treatment arm should be conducted.

Blood Transfusion↗

[Heart surgery without blood transfusion].

Blood conservation in open heart surgery has become mandatory in order to reduce the risk of viral contamination, and because of limited resources. We have performed 100 consecutive coronary artery bypass operations (13 women/87 men, aged 33-73 years, mean 58 years) without using homologous blood. A strict blood conservation programme was applied, with removal of autologous blood prebypass for retransfusion at the end of surgery, retransfusion of the heart-lung machine content to the patient, and autotransfusion of shed mediastinal blood in the postoperative period. All patients survived the operation and were extubated 1.6 hours (0-6) postoperatively. No patients needed resternotomy for bleeding, and no homologous blood was given. Five patients received 1-2 units of fresh frozen plasma because of coagulopathy. Mean hemoglobin was 12.0 g/100 ml and mean hematocrit was 36% at discharge from hospital. Elective coronary artery bypass surgery can be performed with little or no transfusions of homologous blood.

Adult↗

Blood transfusion or blood substitution?

Blood transfusion has become a universally accepted, life-saving procedure in modern clinical medicine. In addition, specific blood fractions are widely used in the therapeutic treatment of haematological disorders. Problems are, however, encountered in conventional transfusion practice and in the clinical use of blood components. This paper outlines some of those problems and considers how plasma expanders and oxygen-carrying blood substitutes may be used to overcome some of them. The extent to which acceptable blood substitutes have been developed and tested in both animal and human studies is especially emphasized.

Blood Substitutes↗