Asian Journal of Transfusion Science最新文献

Introduction: Platelet transfusion has been therapeutically used in patients with thrombocytopenia and platelet function defects over the years. The use of advanced techniques may add value in assessing the quality of platelet products. The aim of the study was to assess stored platelet concentrates (PCs) prepared in blood banks for platelet indices, clot strength, and platelet function.

Materials and methods: Apart from the routine quality check parameters (platelet count, volume, pH, swirling, and sterility), 24-h-old PCs derived by the platelet-rich plasma method (PRP-PC) were prospectively assessed for various platelet indices using hematology analyzer and clot strength using thromboelastography (TEG). Platelet function (platelet activation and aggregation) was assessed using flow cytometry and compared with freshly prepared PRP.

Results: A total of 43 PRP-PCs that were analyzed had a mean volume of 69.1 ± 5.1 mL, a pH of 6.8 ± 0.3, and a platelet count of 738.8 ± 312.9 × 10³ cells/μL. Swirling was present in all. The platelet distribution width, mean platelet volume, platelet-large cell ratio, plateletcrit, and immature platelet fraction were 9.4 ± 2.7 fL, 8.7 ± 1.2 fL, 16.9% ± 8.9%, 0.6% ± 0.3%, and 4.4% ± 3.9%, respectively. The r-time, k-time, alpha angle, and maximum amplitude were 15 ± 0.3 min, 2.1 ± 0.4 min, 65.2° ± 2.3°, and 76.1 ± 10.1 mm, respectively. Delayed clot initiation and higher clot strength were observed in in 60% (n = 21) and 71.4% (n = 25) of products, respectively Platelet activation of PRP-PC was significantly lower than PRP (0.4 [0.1%-42%] vs. 10.5 [0.8%-32.4%]; P = 0.002). However, platelet aggregation of PRP-PC was significantly higher than PRP (62.0 [26.7%-88.7%] vs. 33.4 [4.9%-55.8%]; P = 0.003).

Conclusion: Platelet indices, TEG, and flow cytometry analysis provides useful information to assess the quality of PCs. However, the variable effects of processing and storage on platelet activity need further exploration.

Introduction: Autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) is a condition in which there is decreased survival of red blood cells (RBC) due to the destruction of RBC by autoantibodies. AIHA is classified into warm, cold, and mixed according to temperature sensitivity. The antibodies may be immunoglobulin G, immunoglobulin M, immunoglobulin A, or complement proteins, and hemolysis may be intravascular or extravascular. The present study was done to find out serological characteristics of AIHA patients in our population.

Materials and methods: During the study, a total of 112 patients' samples were analyzed. All immunohematology workup, including blood grouping, direct Coombs test (DCT), indirect Coombs test (ICT), monospecific DCT, and alloantibody identification, were done.

Results: A maximum number of patients were in the age group of 16-45 years (69.6%). Primary AIHA (56.25%) is more common than secondary AIHA. Females (73.2%) were more affected than men, mostly due to the prevalence of autoimmune disease more in females. Warm AIHA (58%) was more common, followed by mixed (33%) and cold (9%). Grouping discrepancy was seen in 30 (26.8%) cases.

Conclusion: Warm AIHA is more common in our population followed by mixed and cold types. Blood group discrepancy seen in good proportion of AIHA patients, therefore meticulous immunohematological work up plays an essential role in these patients.

The objective of this study is to determine the perinatal outcome in pregnancies with hydropic fetuses. The study was a retrospective evaluation of data on intrauterine transfusion (IUT) done in hydropic fetuses for correction of severe anemia from December 2017 to August 2021 in AIIMS Jodhpur. The retrospective case series involves five cases that underwent IUT for severe fetal anemia. All had a sign of hydrops at the time of presentation. Out of five cases, four were of alloimmunized pregnancies while one was of hydrops fetalis secondary to parvovirus infection. The presence of severe hydrops at the time of presentation is a poor prognostic factor affecting fetal survival post-IUT therapy.

Background and objective: Septic transfusion reactions due to bacterial contamination in platelet concentrates (PCs) are continually reported to hemovigilance (HV) programs. Worldwide, blood centers use different systems to avoid transfusion-associated bacterial sepsis in PCs. Herein, national HV data were gathered to compare bacterial protection systems and to assess the risk of bacterial contamination.

Materials and methods: HV data with definite transfusion-associated bacterial sepsis in PCs were obtained from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom (U. K.), and Switzerland between 2006 and 2016. These data were reviewed to evaluate bacterial protection systems including early small-volume (ESV), early large-volume (ELV), and delayed large-volume (DLV) bacterial culture screening and pathogen inactivation (PI) treatment.

Results: Implementation of DLV bacterial culture screening in the U. K. and PI treatment in Switzerland resulted in significant reductions (P < 0.05) in transfusion-associated bacterial sepsis for the period of 2011-2016 compared to the prior 4 years (2006-2010). Approximately 1.86 million DLV bacterial culture-screened PCs and 0.21 million PI-treated PCs were issued with no reported septic fatalities nor cases of life-threatening sepsis. In Australia, two life-threatening septic transfusion reactions (1.923 per million) were reported out of almost 1.04 million ELV bacterial culture-screened PCs, and no septic fatalities were reported. Meanwhile, in Canada, four life-threatening septic transfusion reactions (3.6/million) and one fatality (0.9/million) were observed in about 1.11 million ESV bacterial culture-screened PCs.

Conclusion: DLV bacterial culture and PI treatment significantly reduced the incidence of septic reactions. The advantages and disadvantages of both systems merit further investigation before implementation.

A 68-year-old male known follow-up patient of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and carcinoma stomach was admitted to hospital for further management. The patient was planned for radical gastrectomy and required two units of packed red blood cell (PRBC), due to low hemoglobin of 6.6 g/dl. The patient blood grouping and antibody screening (ABS) were done. Patient ABS was positive. On antibody identification, using eleven-cell identification panel, resolve Panel A (Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, Johnson and Johnson, USA), "anti-f" alloantibody was identified in the patient sample. Select cells, from another resolve panel were used to rule out remaining antibodies. Anti-f antibody is produced due to the exposure of "f antigen." Anti-f antibody can cause hemolytic disease of fetus and new-born and possible hemolytic transfusion reactions. At our center, we successfully transfused two units of anti-human globulin compatible and "c-negative" units, to the patient without any adverse reactions. Thus, the patient having anti-f antibody can be managed by transfusing "c-negative" or "e-negative" PRBC units or units lacking both the "c" and "e" antigens.

Background and objectives: Discrepancy between forward and reverse ABO grouping could be due to several reasons including genetic mutations of the alleles encoding group specific transferase. The healthy donors found with weak A antigen were investigated to ascertain the allele responsible for variation.

Materials and methods: Standard serological methods were employed using commercial antisera. The molecular sequencing was performed on DNA with enrichment library prep kit and a custom designed overlapping probe panel. Binary alignment mapping files, generated on board the Illumina MiSeq instrument and aligned to the GRCh37/Hg19 reference genome, were uploaded to the QIAGEN CLC genomics workbench software (version. 20) where variant call files were generated and analyzed.

Results: Red blood cells (RBCs) of six healthy donors, showing weak mix-field agglutination by anti-A and anti-A, B and plasma with absence or weakly reacting anti-A, were investigated serologically. The RBCs incubated with anti-A yield positive elution and their saliva lacked A but possessed H antigen thereby classifying as a historical known phenotype A_end. Family study on 4 probands showed inheritance of the trait. Molecular studies revealed presence of ABO*A allele carrying rare novel variant referred to as c.106delinsGG in line with HGVS recommendation that was thought to be responsible for the variant of A.

Conclusion: Six cases serologically defined as A_weak were found to be associated with novel allele ABO*A (c.106delinsGG). The A_weak phenotype with the novel allele has not been displayed on International Society of Blood Transfusion database, though c.106delinsGG is listed in the UCSC genome browser under rs782544248.

Introduction: The rate of discarded blood components or "wastage rate" reflects on the whole process, preparation, and production of blood and its quality control. It is the ratio of blood and blood components discarded to the total number of collections. The discard or unusability of blood products are many, and the ones that can be monitored and regarded as indicators to be improvised on are QC failure rate, transfusion-transmitted infection (TTI) positivity, and component discards (other than TTI), including those that caused transfusion reactions. These were studied over four intervention cycles to see if they could be improved.

Materials and methods: This was a clinical audit and quality improvement study. The clinical audit was conducted over four cycles over 16 months. Each cycle included three stages wherein the data required for calculating those key performance indicators (KPIs) of the blood center were studied and analyzed, and causes for the poorly performing ones were identified; a corrective plan was drawn and implemented, followed by data collection and interpretation of the same in the next cycle for improvement. The data were compiled using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and analyzed using SPSS version 19 (IBM Corporation, New York, USA).

Results: The overall discard rates due to all cumulative causes mentioned were at about 5% at the start of the first cycle. The various factors comprising preparatory, preparation, and the management of inventory and issue were analyzed, and corrective interventions were performed in every cycle. The discard rates were reduced to about 3% by the end of the four cycles. The difference was statistically significant, with a P < 0.05.

Conclusion: The implementation of Corrective and preventive action measures can rectify the deviations in KPIs. The blood center director, staff, and doctors should be responsible for maintaining and continuously improving the quality indicators.

Introduction: Granulocyte transfusion is one of the best therapeutic modalities in prolonged neutropenic patients with severe bacterial/fungal infections. Granulocyte harvest using conventional acid citrate dextrose (ACD) anticoagulant (ACD-A) by apheresis is not satisfactory in comparison to the use of hydroxyethyl starch (HES), but the latter is associated with various adverse events, especially with high-molecular-weight HES.

Aims and objective: This study aimed to assess the beneficial impact of the use of medium-molecular-weight (MMW)-HES and trisodium citrate combination over ACD-A in granulocyte apheresis when using Spectra Optia.

Materials and methods: This was a retrospective study comparing granulocyte harvest results with the use of ACD or HES and trisodium citrate combination. All the donors in both the groups received single 600 μg of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor subcutaneous injection followed by 8 mg of dexamethasone tablet 10-12 h and omnacortil 60 mg orally 3 h before harvest. A number of adverse incidents, if any, were observed and noted. Donor/procedure parameters were compared using Mann-Whitney U-test/unpaired t-test.

Results: Granulocyte yield (mean: 3.29 × 10¹⁰/unit vs. 4.5 × 10¹⁰/unit in the ACD and HES groups, respectively, P ≤ 0.0001) was significantly better in the HES group. The collection efficiency was also better in the HES group (mean: 15.86% vs. 26.70% in the ACD and HES groups, respectively, P ≤ 0.0001) in the ACD and HES groups, respectively. There was no significant adverse event noted in any of these two groups.

Conclusion: In our study, granulocytes with optimum yield can be easily harvested with Spectra Optia cell separator using 6% HES (MMW) and trisodium citrate combination with standard 12-h interval gap between mobilization and harvest. This strategy can also have no or minimal extra cost burden to patients.

Donor lymphocyte infusions (DLIs) are often recommended products after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant to increase graft - versus - leukemia effect. More success rate of DLI has been reported in relapsed posttransplant chronic myeloid leukemia. Whatever the indication for DLI, mortality related to post-DLI infusion is 5%-20%, and more than one-third of patients will develop acute and/or chronic graft versus host disease (GVHD) after DLI. We report two cases where DLIs were used for residual disease after posttransplant. Both of DLI went uneventful. None of the patient's developed signs of GVHD postinfusion. Although both patients expired with different causes, none were related to DLI infusion. Information from published literature suggests that DLI should be administered early after relapse or as a prophylactic strategy in patients receiving T-cell-depleted grafts, and patients with aggressive diseases may benefit from disease reduction before DLI. However, further evidence is required to evaluate its efficacy, especially in relapsed or residual hematological malignancies.