Special issues in transfusion medicine

This article reviews four controversial aspects of transfusion practices: the clinical circumstances, survival, and complications of massive transfusion; specific problems related to neonatal transfusion practices and the surgical support of the small child, including the appropriate age for red cells to be transfused, cytomegalovirus transmission, and the reduction in homologous donor exposures; the clinical presentation, incidence, and prevention of transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease; and the biochemistry, function, genetics, and clinical indication for replacement therapy of antithrombin III.