Incidence of Adverse Transfusion Reactions from an Institutional Hemovigilance System: A Single Center Study

Lee, A Jin; Kim, Sang Gyung

Abstract

BACKGROUND
A hemovigilance system is essential to detect and analyze adverse transfusion reactions to various blood components. A blood bank physician has the role of discriminating the adverse transfusion reactions based on the hemovigilance criteria. This study investigated the incidence of adverse transfusion reactions per transfused case and the incidence of adverse transfusion reactions according to the various blood components in recipients.
METHODS
From January 2016 to February 2017, 38,689 blood component units were transfused into 3,768 patients. A total of 11,170 transfused cases were reported. The patients' signs or symptoms were monitored and reported by nurses using an electronic reporting system. A blood bank physician classified the adverse transfusion reactions according to the Korean hemovigilance reporting definitions.
RESULTS
The frequency of all transfusion-related events was 469 according to the nursing record. Out of 469 events, 175 (37.3%) were classified as adverse transfusion reactions. The incidence of a febrile nonhemolytic transfusion reaction according to the blood component was highest for red blood cells (1.3%), followed by a platelets (0.8%) and fresh frozen plasma (0.3%). The incidence of allergic reactions was 1.0% (platelets), 0.8% (fresh frozen plasma), and 0.3% (red blood cells). The incidence of febrile nonhemolytic transfusion reactions was lowered significantly by leukocyte-reduction.
CONCLUSION
The incidence of adverse transfusion reactions was 37.3% of the transfusion-related events. Therefore, close monitoring by the blood bank physician is essential for safe transfusion. The use of leukocyte-reduced blood components could reduce the incidence of febrile nonhemolytic transfusion reactions.