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Blood, 9 April 2009, Vol. 113, No. 15, pp. 3406-3417. Prepublished online as a Blood First Edition Paper on February 2, 2009; DOI 10.1182/blood-2008-10-167643. This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: blood-2008-10-167643v1 113/15/3406    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Rights and Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Vamvakas, E. C. Articles by Blajchman, M. A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Vamvakas, E. C. Articles by Blajchman, M. A. Related Collections Perspectives Transfusion Medicine Free Research Articles Social Bookmarking                   What's this?  Previous Article  |  Table of Contents  |  Next Article  PERSPECTIVE Transfusion-related mortality: the ongoing risks of allogeneic blood transfusion and the available strategies for their prevention Eleftherios C. Vamvakas1, and Morris A. Blajchman2,3 1 Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA; 2 Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON; and 3 Canadian Blood Services, Hamilton, ON As the risks of allogeneic blood transfusion (ABT)–transmitted viruses were reduced to exceedingly low levels in the US, transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI), hemolytic transfusion reactions (HTRs), and transfusion-associated sepsis (TAS) emerged as the leading causes of ABT-related deaths. Since 2004, preventive measures for TRALI and TAS have been implemented, but their implementation remains incomplete. Infectious causes of ABT-related deaths currently account for less than 15% of all transfusion-related mortality, but the possibility remains that a new transfusion-transmitted agent causing a fatal infectious disease may emerge in the future. Aside from these established complications of ABT, randomized controlled trials comparing recipients of non–white blood cell (WBC)–reduced versus WBC-reduced blood components in cardiac surgery have documented increased mortality in association with the use of non-WBC–reduced ABT. ABT-related mortality can thus be further reduced by universally applying the policies of avoiding prospective donors alloimmunized to WBC antigens from donating plasma products, adopting strategies to prevent HTRs, WBC-reducing components transfused to patients undergoing cardiac surgery, reducing exposure to allogeneic donors through conservative transfusion guidelines and avoidance of product pooling, and implementing pathogen-reduction technologies to address the residual risk of TAS as well as the potential risk of the next transfusion-transmitted agent to emerge in the foreseeable future. CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this? This article has been cited by other articles: J. L. Spivak, P. Gascon, and H. Ludwig Anemia Management in Oncology and Hematology Oncologist, September 1, 2009; 14(suppl_1): 43 - 56. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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