The approach taken to reducing the risk of transfusion related acute lung injury in Canada

Transfusion related acute lung injury (TRALI) has become a major reported cause of severe transfusion reactions and mortality. Over the past four years significant changes have been taken in Canada in order both to improve the recognition of the risk and to decrease its incidence. An international meeting was held in April of 2004 entitled "Towards an Understanding of TRALI". As a result of the analysis and recommendations from this meeting, the Canadian Blood Services established an ongoing review committee and established a laboratory diagnostic facility to identify at risk donors and recipients. A system has been developed to identify implicated donors and exclude them from the blood donor pool. Other steps have been taken to exclude potentially high risk donors, such as previously pregnant females, from the plasma and platelet donor pool. A considerable amount of education also has been offered to clinical services in the country. This paper summarizes the definitions, categorizations of implicated donors, and the ongoing precautionary activities related to plasma products. Noted within the article are the methods used for locating and selecting data. These were primarily based on the international TRALI conference in 2004, and from ongoing discussions and information provided by the Canadian Blood Services TRALI Review Committee. No ethics referral or approval was requested, and a summary is included in the article.