[Diagnosis of acute transfusion reactions]

The erroneous transfusion of AB0-incompatible red cells may result in hemolysis and complement-mediated shock (acute hemolytic transfusion reaction, AHTR), leading to death in less than 10%. The mistake will be detected by re-checking the patient's and the blood product's identity. Evidence of the incompatible transfusion is supplied by serology and, in cases of a fatal outcome, by immunohistochemistry. Differential diagnoses to be distinguished from AHTR are other immunologically mediated events like the most important transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI), febrile non-hemolytic transfusion reaction (FNHTR), allergic transfusion reactions, along with a variety of nonimmunologic incidents like transfusion-transmitted bacterial infections, hypervolemia, and other rare events such as citrate reaction, air embolism, and foreign body embolism. If the outcome is lethal, the question of causality has to be answered by a comprehensive evaluation including the clinical data as well as serological, microbiological, autoptic, and histological findings.