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A blood transfusion is a serious procedure that is only performed in special cases. It requires special preparations and carries certain risks, which are minimized by adherence to appropriate medical procedures. Here are the most important information about blood transfusions.
Why is a blood transfusion performed?
The main indications for surgery blood transfusion belong:
- Serious haemorrhage, endangering the patient’s life. They can be the result of injuries in, for example, traffic accidents, but also complications during and after surgery.
- Congenital blood diseases and deficiencies of its immune components.
- Chronic diseases resulting in a deficiency of blood components. These are diseases such as anemia, leukemia, bone marrow diseases or various neoplastic changes.
- There are occasions when a blood transfusion is required in postpartum women.
There are two types blood transfusion: autologous, when we transfuse the patient’s blood, and homologous, where it occurs blood transfusion coming from another person. Transfusion of your own blood takes place in the case of procedures planned in advance, because such blood must of course be collected and stored in advance. However, when a life-threatening situation occurs, it is carried out homologous transfusion.
Preparations for blood transfusion surgery
To perform the procedure blood transfusion patient consent is needed. He may not express it for reasons, inter alia, religious.
Blood should first be carefully checked before transfusion. Complete donor and recipient documentation is essential, taking into account primarily the Rh factor and blood group. The incompatibility of these parameters may cause a situation of immediate life-threatening in the recipient. A macroscopic assessment of the blood condition to be transfused is performed with the naked eye. All kinds of clots, cloudiness, color changes etc. disqualify blood. The next must-see preparation for blood transfusion there is a so-called cross-test. This is a laboratory test of the donor’s and recipient’s blood samples to see if there are any incompatibilities. It is performed independently of the information in the medical record, as non-compliance may occur spontaneously. Therefore, the cross-match result is only valid for 48 hours. A full cross-check takes an hour, but in case of a life-threatening situation, a shortened version checking only the most important parameters is carried out within 15 minutes. The risk of complications is then greater, but saving lives is at stake.
The course of blood transfusion
The method of blood transfusion depends on the needs of a specific situation. When a large amount of blood needs to be transfused quickly, the doctor will insert a peripheral vein catheter. In less urgent cases, the most frequently used method is intravenous infusion using a regular cannula into which the blood flows from the bag through the medical drain. In special cases, your doctor may decide to give you a single injection of the needed blood components.
When carrying out transfusion the patient must be constantly monitored. The speed and patency of the infusion are taken into account, and, of course, any reactions the patient has to the blood transfused. The nurse present at the procedure must have appropriate training.
How long it takes Blood transfusiondepends on the way it is carried out and on the amount and type of the transfused preparation. Transfusion of the so-called reconstituted whole blood, i.e. whole blood prepared for storage and transfusion, may take up to 4 hours. Transfusion plasma itself takes from 30 minutes to an hour. The administration of platelets usually takes 20-30 minutes.
Complications after blood transfusion
Blood transfusion it is considered a serious procedure due to the wide range of complications that can occur. Modern medicine knows ways to minimize them, especially at the stage of selecting blood for admission transfusion, however, not all are completely avoidable.
Complications after blood transfusion is divided into two main types. These are early complications, occurring from the start of the procedure to 24 hours after its completion, and late complications, which may appear up to 30 days after the procedure.
Do early complications we include:
- Acute haemolytic reaction caused by incompatibility of donor and recipient blood in the AB0 system. It is very dangerous, but its occurrence is also unlikely, provided that the cross-check is carried out correctly.
- Sepsis – occurs with microbial contamination of the administered blood. It manifests itself with high fever and circulatory disorders.
- Cardiovascular overload.
Late complications for example:
- Delayed haemolytic reaction.
- Graft-versus-host disease, in which antibodies in the blood of the donor attack the donor’s body. In its acute course, it can be life-threatening.
- Transmission of various bacterial and viral diseases, including syphilis, HIV, malaria, hepatitis B and C. Extremely rare due to the detailed procedures of testing donor blood before allowing it to be transfused.