Acute transfusion reactions encountered in patients at a tertiary care center

To determine the frequency and type of Acute Transfusion Reactions (ATRs) occurring in inpatients, reported to the transfusion service at Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.

This was a three years and seven months (from January 2005 till July 2008) retrospective review of all the transfusion reactions that were reported to the transfusion service at Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. All the reactions were clinically evaluated by the blood bank physician. Transfusion reactions occurring during or within four hours after transfusion were evaluated and classified by standard and recognized definitions defined by American Association of Blood Banks.

The acute transfusion reactions (ATRs) reported during the study period were 212. However, out of these 212 ATRs, 182 ATRs were confirmed by blood bank physician, and included febrile non haemolytic reactions [89 (41.9%)], allergic reaction [73 (34.4%)], isolated hypotension [3 (1.4%)], haemolytic reaction [4 (1.8%)] and bacterial contamination [2 (0.9%)]. Eleven (5.1%) ATRs were unclassifiable and were thus labeled as non specific reaction.

The frequency of transfusion reactions in our patients was found to be 0.082%. Febrile non haemolytic reaction was the most frequent transfusion reaction followed by allergic reaction. This may be an under reported figure. There is a need for establishing a haemovigilance system for critical analysis of blood transfusion events.