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Updated: Jul 6, 2026

Continuous Manual Exchange Transfusion for Patients with Sickle Cell Disease: An Efficient Method to Avoid Iron Overload
Published on: March 14, 2017
Red cell transfusion in medicine: future challenges
1Department of Blood Transfusion and Transplantation Immunology (469), Radboud University, Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. v.novotny@hemat.umcn.nl
Abstract:
Many side-effects of red blood cell transfusion have been described. They include iron-overload, as well as allo- and autoantibody formation against red cells. During storage, erythrocytes undergo complex structural and biochemical changes. It has been suggested that accelerated and/or aberrant forms of the physiological erythrocyte aging process underlie the red cell storage lesion. This storage lesion may contribute to side-effects of transfusion as endothelial damage by release of internal erythrocyte constituents, (pro)inflammatory consequences, hampered microcirculation and oxygen delivery. Understanding the process that determines the fate of red blood cells after transfusion may contribute to the prevention of side-effects after red blood cell transfusion. This should be the focus of research on red blood cell transfusion in clinical transfusion medicine.
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