Leaderboard

Yes, the same unit. once it is hung it is good for 4 hrs. No need to use a new blood product. limit donor exposure.

The prediluted cells from Ortho contain the antibiotic nitrofurantoin as I recall. I think that contributes to why they are to be kept in the dark as that drug is always dispensed in a brown bottle. Patients make antibodies to the antibiotic and thus react in the prediluted cells. Diluent 2 lacks preservatives because we can't store the suspensions over 24 hours so 3% cells suspended in it don't react with antibodies to the antibiotic because the antibiotic isn't present. In my experience, the antibiotic doesn't seem to wash off of the cells but rather adheres to them. What you are doing is a great way to prove that this is the problem rather than a cold antibody etc. Most of our patients who have this, continue to have it for years to come.

I am so sorry for all of your losses. I hope life gets a bit easier in the coming months and years. You provided much help and support on this site for a long time. We are glad to have you here if you choose to join us.

so so helpful!! thank you sonya!!!

We tell our clinicians to do exactly that, yes. Likely it won't turn into an anaphylactic event, but it could, so STOP and initiate a transfusion workup. Give benadryl and watch the patient. For future transfusions, pre-treat with benadryl - even though it's likely a response to that one specific donor's plasma proteins, and a bag from a different donor may not provoke a reaction.

We pull two segments upon delivery. One for retype, one in the event of a delayed reaction. We keep them for two months. The only units that we get back are actual suspected transfusion reactions.

We don't have bags returned to us. We take off 2 segments when we retype the units and save for a month, 1 week in each bag. It's easy to find by when it was retyped in the computer and there are only four small bags to check for the correct date.