Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Jul-Dec;11(2):180-187.
doi: 10.4103/0973-6247.214348.

Transfusion-related adverse reactions in pediatric and surgical patients at a tertiary care teaching hospital in India

Kunal J Ghataliya  1 , Jigar D Kapadia  1 , Mira K Desai  1 , K M Mehariya  2 , G H Rathod  3 , Nidhi Bhatnagar  4 , M D Gajjar  4
Affiliations

Transfusion-related adverse reactions in pediatric and surgical patients at a tertiary care teaching hospital in India

Kunal J Ghataliya et al. Asian J Transfus Sci. 2017 Jul-Dec.

Abstract

Background: Use of blood and its components is lifesaving. However, their use is often associated with adverse events.

Objective: To analyze the pattern of adverse reactions associated with transfusion of blood and its components in pediatric and surgical patients at a tertiary care teaching hospital.

Materials and methods: Patients receiving transfusion of blood or its components in a randomly selected unit each from Departments of Pediatrics, including thalassemia OPD and surgery, were monitored intensively for a period of 6 months. Clinical course, management, outcome, causality, severity, seriousness, and preventability of observed transfusion reactions (TRs) were analyzed.

Results: A total of 411 pediatric and 433 surgical patients received 594 and 745 transfusions respectively during the study period. Of these, TRs were observed in 69 (11.6%) children and 63 (8.4%) surgical patients. Majority of reactions in children (48, 69.5%) and surgical patients (51, 80.9%) were acute, developing within 24 h of transfusion. TRs were observed with packed cells (13.2%), cryoprecipitate (10%), platelet concentrate (14.3%) and fresh frozen plasma (1.3%) in pediatric patients and with packed cells (7.2%), whole blood (25%) and platelet concentrate (62.5%) in surgical patients. Most common TRs included febrile nonhemolytic TRs (FNHTRs) and allergic reactions. Reactions were more frequent in patients with a previous history of transfusion or those receiving more than one transfusion and in children, when transfusion was initiated after 30 min of issue of blood component. Majority of reactions were managed with symptomatic treatment, were nonserious, moderately severe, probably preventable and probably associated with the suspect blood component in both populations.

Conclusion: Transfusion reactions in children and surgical patients are commonly observed with cellular blood components. Majority of reactions are acute and nonserious. FNHTRs and allergic reactions are the most common transfusion reactions. Risk of transfusion reactions is more in patients receiving multiple transfusions.

Keywords: Allergic reaction; febrile nonhemolytic transfusion reaction; intensive monitoring; pediatric patients; surgical patients; transfusion reactions.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Age distribution of patients receiving blood transfusion and those developing transfusion reactions (TRs)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Sahu S, Hemlata, Verma A. Adverse events related to blood transfusion. Indian J Anaesth. 2014;58:543–51. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kuriyan M, Carson JL. Blood transfusion risks in the Intensive Care Unit. Crit Care Clin. 2004;20:237–53. ix. - PubMed
    1. Callum JL, Pinkerton PH, editors. Bloody Easy: Blood Transfusions, Blood Alternatives and Transfusion Reactions, a Guide to Transfusion Medicine. Toronto (Ontario): Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre; 2005. Transfusion reactions; pp. 34–65.
    1. Sidhu M, Meenia R, Yasmeen I, Akhtar N. A study of transfusion related adverse events at a tertiary care centre in North India: an initiative towards hemovigilance. Intern J Adv Med. 2015;2:206–10.
    1. Hendrickson JE, Hillyer CD. Noninfectious serious hazards of transfusion. Anesth Analg. 2009;108:759–69. - PubMed