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Raynaud's phenomenon in a child presenting as oxygen desaturation during transfusion with cold blood
Xiaopeng Zhang1, Charles J Coté
1Division of Pediatric Anesthesia, Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, Harvard Medical School, The MassGeneral Hospital for Children, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
Abstract:
We report a case of Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) triggered by transfusion of cold blood to a pediatric burn patient under general anesthesia. The child was febrile so a decision was made to not use a blood warmer. When the blood was rapidly administered the child suddenly developed 'desaturation'. The child was placed on 100% oxygen, adequate ventilation assured, and the color of his oral mucosa assessed as 'pink'. Placement of the oximeter on the opposite hand revealed 100% saturation. To our knowledge, this is the first case of apparent RP reported in a pediatric patient triggered by transfusion of cold blood.
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