13 March 2018 (Tuesday) - Transfusion News email

The Transfusion News email appeared in my inbox today:

Transfusion Patients with Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia Have Increased Risk of Alloimmunization March 7, 2018 Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT), also known as Osler-Weber-Rendu syndrome, is an autosomal dominate disorder characterized by arteriovenous malformations. In patients with HHT, veins are more prone to rupture causing bleeding that is often treated with transfusions. Researchers hypothesized that HHT patients may have an increased risk of alloimmunization due to increased antigen presentation in the [Read More] I See CMV! with John Roback March 12, 2018 | BBGuy Podcast How do we achieve "CMV-safe" blood? Even an AABB Expert Panel had trouble saying! Dr. John Roback was senior author on that committee's report, and he's here to clear the air…maybe![Listen Now]

RBC and Plasma Transfusions Continue to Decline among US Hospitalizations February 27, 2018 Based on data from the National Inpatient Sample from 1993 through 2014, hospitalized patients receiving at least one unit of red blood cells (RBCs) peaked in 2011 at 6.8% and has been declining steadily; in 2014 only 5.7% of hospitalized patients received a RBC transfusion (p < 0.001). This trend was consistent across different ethnicities, illness severity [Read More]