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Standardising the Red Cell Dose: Pros and Cons
Author(s) -
Prowse C.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
transfusion medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.471
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1365-3148
pISSN - 0958-7578
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3148.2006.00693_21.x
Subject(s) - apheresis , red cell , medicine , blood product , red blood cell , blood transfusion , medical prescription , platelet , pharmacology , surgery
Unlike other prescription medicines, blood components are issued in variable doses. For example, last year's SNBTS data indicates a mean 55 g haemoglobin in additive red cell product but with a range from 36 to 88 g. With the advent of metered anticoagulant addition it is possible to collect donations to a given dose of Hb rather than a fixed volume using various apheresis equipment or the Macopharma ABC machine. Hogman and others have advocated that there would be advantages in providing red cells as a standard dose product, while Arslan has shown it may be possible to match red cell dose to patient size. Since patients as well as product vary in size at present pursuing a standard dose may have less impact than hoped. The usual rule of thumb that a single unit of red cells transfused to an adult should result in an increment in circulating haemoglobin of 1 g dL ‐1 will be assessed against a range of patient blood volumes and the likely impact of a reduction in dose variation discussed. References Hogman C.F. & Meryman H.T. (2006) Red blood cells intended for transfusion: quality criteria revisited. Transfusion , 46, 137–42. Arslan O, Toprak S, Arat M & Kayalak Y. (2004) Hb content‐based transfusion policy successfully reduces the number of RBC units transfused. Transfusion , 44, 485–8.