Decreasing blood donor exposure in the neonates by using dedicated donor transfusions

Critically ill infants receive frequent red cell transfusions for replacement of blood drawn for laboratory analysis and in treatment of symptomatic anemia. Since blood for multiple transfusions on a given day is typically obtained from one fresh RBC unit, each multiply transfused neonate is exposed to many donors increasing the risk of transfusion transmitted disease. We hypothesized that the number of donor exposures per infant would decrease by instituting DDTP and that more infants will be exposed to only a single donor. We started a Dedicated Donor Transfusion Program (DDTP) in our NICU. One unit of red cells is dedicated to each baby for the life of the unit (35 days). We compared the donor exposure in infants for one year, before and after DDTP. The infants were divided into three birth weight groups. Group I were infants < 1000 g; Group II infants were 1000-1500 g; Group III infants were > 1500g. The average number of transfusions per patient decreased significantly from 7.5 +/- 6.0 to 4.7 +/- 4.2 (P < 0.001) in Group I while it remained unchanged in Groups II and III. The Dedicated Donor Transfusion Program significantly reduced the donor exposure in NICU infants. The program also facilitated the reduction of the number of transfusions in the infants under 1000 g.