Survival advantage of using autologous blood transfusion during surgery for esophageal cancer.
This interesting article raises once again the issue of whether or not allogeneic transfusion can hasten the relapse of cancer and shorten overall survival. There is a lot of information both ways, so the issue is not settled. The current paper suggests that allogeneic transfusion is doing something that autologous transfusion is not. It is […]
Acquired factor VII deficiency in hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients.
This is an interesting and new case report on the occurrence of acquired factor VII deficiency in eight patients following intensive chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy followed by hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (SCT), associated with serious and sometimes fatal hemorrhagic complications with poor response to transfusion of blood components. Tests for antibodies against FVII were negative. It […]
Prospective RBC phenotype matching in a stroke-prevention trial in sickle cell anemia: a multicenter transfusion trial.
For a transfusionist from West/North Europe, the results are predictable and the conclusion expectable. In Germany, the prospective RBC phenotype matching in sickle cell anemia and thalassemia, and even in patients with chronic anemia, has been performed for many years (at least for C, c, E, e, K) and does not pose major problems. It […]
