[Hemovigilance: State 2007-2013 Tunis]

Despite its lifesaving role, blood transfusion still has risks associated with it. Hemovigilance is a set of surveillance procedures of the transfusion chain intended to promote safe and effective use of blood components. This work aims to present a descriptive analysis of adverse reactions, which were notified over a period of 5 years (incidence and etiology); to identify malfunctions and to propose corrections.

All transfusion adverse reactions accidents reported to the blood bank of the hospital La Rabta (n=120) are explored (clinical and laboratory tests).

The average age of patients with transfusion reaction was 51.2 years (25 days to 89 years). The transfusion accident rates ranged from 0.59 to 2.19 accidents/1000 labile blood products (LBP) distributed. The investigations were used to classify 71 % of accidents in different categories. The most prevalent reaction is the hemolytic reaction, n=24 (19.8 %), followed by allergic reactions, n=21 (17.5 %) and non-hemolytic feverish reaction, n=19 (15.8 %). Transfusion reactions of grade 1 severity were the most frequent (n=94); followed by those of grade 3 severity (n=16), accidents grade 4 (n=4) including two cases of acute pulmonary edema, one case of hyperkalemia, and the last case classified undetermined.

These data are particularly rich in learning lessons. This study identified several levels failures: under-reporting of certain transfusion accidents, malfunctions at certain stages of the transfusion chain. In order to achieve an accurate statement of each transfusion reaction, it is important to plan in-service training.