Blood Transfusion: Benefits, Risks, and Alternatives
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37506/mtz6m472Keywords:
Blood transfusion, Anemia, Blood safety, Transfusion reactions, Blood alternatives, Patient blood management.Abstract
Blood transfusion is a vital medical procedure used to restore lost blood and improve oxygen supply in patients.
It plays a life-saving role in surgeries, trauma cases, and conditions like anemia and cancer. While transfusions can be highly beneficial, they are not without risks. Complications such as allergic reactions, infections, and iron overload may occur. Fortunately, with careful practices and growing alternatives like autologous donation and artificial blood, the safety of transfusion is steadily improving. This article provides an easy-to-understand but in-depth look at the uses, risks, preventive strategies, and substitutes for blood transfusion, based on the latest research and expert guidelines.
References
1. World Health Organization. Blood safety and
availability. WHO Fact Sheet, 2023.
2. WHO Global Status Report on Blood Safety and
Availability, 2021.
3. Shander A, et al. Patient blood management as
standard of care. Anesth Analg. 2022;135(6):1184–1198.
4. Carson JL, et al. Clinical practice guidelines for blood
transfusion. JAMA. 2016;316(19):2025–2035.
5. Napolitano LM. Hemorrhagic shock: transfusion and
adjunctive therapies. Crit Care Clin. 2017;33(1):127–148.
6. Spahn DR, et al. Management of severe anemia
in surgical patients. Anesthesiology. 2019;131(5):
1101–1115.
7. Weiss G, et al. Anemia of chronic disease. N Engl
J Med. 2015;372:1441–1451.
8. Estcourt LJ, et al. Platelet transfusion for patients
with hematological malignancies. Blood. 2017;129(9):
1109–1123.
9. O’Shaughnessy DF, et al. Guidelines for the use of
fresh-frozen plasma. Br J Haematol. 2016;176:54–67.
10. Neukirchen J, et al. Supportive care in hematologic
malignancies. Hemasphere. 2019;3(2):e170.
11. Tay J, et al. Blood transfusion in oncology patients.
Transfus Med. 2018;28(2):92–99.
12. Hajjar LA, et al. Transfusion requirements in cardiac
surgery. N Engl J Med. 2010;363:1280–1290.
13. Bennett-Guerrero E, et al. Blood conservation strategies
in surgery. Anesthesiology. 2017;126:923–931.
14. Say L, et al. Global causes of maternal death. Lancet
Glob Health. 2014;2(6):e323–e333.
15. WHO. Strategies to reduce maternal mortality. 2020.
16. Cappellini MD, et al. Thalassemia and transfusion
therapy. Blood Rev. 2021;50:100867.
17. Menis M, et al. Allergic transfusion reactions.
Transfusion. 2019;59:2184–2192.
18. Vamvakas EC. Febrile non-hemolytic transfusion
reactions. Blood Rev. 2019;37:100586.
19. Zimrin AB, et al. Hemolytic transfusion reactions.
Hematol Oncol Clin North Am. 2016;30(3):629–648.
20. Toy P, et al. TRALI: current understanding and
prevention. Hematology Am Soc Hematol Educ
Program. 2015;2015:272–279.
21. Vlaar AP, et al. Transfusion-related acute lung injury.
Lancet. 2019;394:1717–1726.
22. Clifford L, et al. TACO: diagnosis and prevention.
Transfusion. 2017;57(1):90–101.
23. Dodd RY, et al. Transfusion-transmitted infections.
N Engl J Med. 2017;377:1831–1841.
24. Kitchen A, et al. Blood transfusion safety in developing
countries. Vox Sang. 2020;115(2):95–104.
25. Taher AT, et al. Iron overload and chelation therapy.
Haematologica. 2021;106:1705–1716.
26. Vamvakas EC. Transfusion-related immunomodulation.
Blood. 2019;133(17):1821–1830.
27. Custer B, et al. Global donor screening practices.
Transfusion. 2020;60(1):5–16.
28. Blajchman MA. Leukoreduction of blood. Blood Rev.
2018;32:77–83.
29. Kopolovic I, et al. Irradiated blood components:
indications and complications. Transfus Med Rev.
2015;29:33–40.
30. Andreu G, et al. Hemovigilance: systems and impact.
Transfusion. 2019;59:3561–3573.
31. Goodnough LT, et al. Patient blood management:
strategies and outcomes. Blood.
2019;133(19):2025–2037.
32. Klein HG, et al. Autologous blood transfusion.
Transfusion. 2017;57:2435–2443.
33. Waters JH. Intraoperative blood salvage. Anesth
Analg. 2019;128:676–689.
34. Henry DA, et al. Anti-fibrinolytic use in surgery.
Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018;5:CD001886.
35. Jahr JS, et al. HBOCs: development and clinical use.
Anesth Analg. 2017;125:138–148.
36. Spahn DR, et al. Perfluorocarbon emulsions as blood
substitutes. Crit Care. 2019;23:62.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.