Exploring donor and product factors and their impact on red cell post-transfusion outcomes

• Published in: Transfusion medicine reviews 2018-01, Vol.32 (1), p.28-35
• Main Authors: Ning, Shuoyan, Heddle, Nancy M., Acker, Jason P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age Factors; Blood Component Removal - adverse effects; Blood Component Removal - standards; Blood Component Transfusion - statistics & numerical data; Blood donors; Blood Donors - statistics & numerical data; Blood Specimen Collection - adverse effects; Blood Specimen Collection - methods; Blood transfusion; Blood Transfusion - methods; Erythrocytes - cytology; Humans; Outcomes; Red blood cells; Storage; Treatment Outcome
• ISSN: 0887-7963; 1532-9496
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tmrv.2017.07.006

The impact of donor characteristics, red cell age, and red cell processing methods on recipient outcomes is an emerging area of research. Knowledge generated from exploring this transfusion continuum has the potential to change the way donors are selected and how donations are processed and stored with important clinical and operational impact. Recently, donor characteristics including age, gender, donation frequency, genetics, and ethnicity have been shown to affect product quality and possibly recipient outcomes. The structural, biochemical and immunological changes that occur with red cell storage appear to not cause harm to blood recipients after 14 randomized clinical trials. However, both in vitro and clinical data are now beginning to question the safety of blood stored for a shorter duration. Whole blood filtration, a method of blood processing, has been linked to inferior recipient outcomes when compared to red cell filtration. Collectively, this emerging body of literature suggests that pre-transfusion parameters impact product quality and recipient outcomes and that no 2 units of red cells are quite the same. This review will summarize both the pre-clinical and clinical studies evaluating these associations. •Donor characteristics, red cell age, and processing methods impact blood product quality.•Qualitative product differences have potential implications on recipient outcomes.•This review summarizes both pre-clinical and clinical studies evaluating these associations.