Pre-operative autologous blood donation and transfusion-related adverse reactions: A 14-year experience at a university hospital.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the rate of adverse reactions to pre-operative autologous blood donation (PAD) transfusion in a single institution over a 14-year period.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Between January 2003 and December 2016, we investigated adverse reactions to PAD transfusion and compared them with those to allogeneic blood transfusion in Juntendo University Hospital. Adverse reactions were categorized according to the definition proposed by the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) Working Party on Haemovigilance.

RESULTS: A total of 178,014 blood components were transfused during the study period, of which PAD transfusions were 13,653 (8%), whereas allogeneic blood transfusions were 164,361 (92%). The number and rate of adverse reactions to PAD transfusion were 16 and 0.1%, whereas those of allogeneic blood transfusion were 1075 and 0.7%, respectively. The rate of adverse reactions to allogeneic blood transfusions excluding platelet transfusion was 0.3%, being significant (p < 0.01) against PAD transfusion. Among 16 adverse reactions to PAD transfusion, the most common was febrile non-hemolytic transfusion reaction (FNHTR) at 12 (75%), followed by allergic reaction at 4 (25%). The severity of adverse reactions to PAD transfusion was Grade 1 (non-severe) in all cases. With regard to blood component types, 16 adverse reactions involved: 12 cases of whole blood PAD, 2 of frozen PAD, and 2 of autologous fresh-frozen plasma.

CONCLUSIONS: Non-severe adverse reactions were observed on PAD transfusion at a rate of 0.1% at our institution.