Blood transfusions come with risks and complications. What are the major issues to consider in consenting a patient for a blood transfusion and are the infectious risks of transfused blood product?
- Common:
- FNHTR (5% with platelets, <1% with RBCs), allo-immunization to red cell antigens
- Serious:
- TACO (1 in 700)
- TRALI (1 in 5,000)
- Acute hemolytic transfusion reaction (1 in 40,000)
- Anaphylactic reaction
- Bacterial contamination (1 in 40,000)
- Uncommon:
- Hepatitis B (1:153,000), Hepatitis C (1:3 million), WNV, HTLV, HIV (1:7.8 million)
- Emerging pathogens: Chagas
- PTP, TaGVHD, TRIM
- Error (1:19,000)
Callum JL et al. Bloody Easy 3. ORBCN; 2011
