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Blood transfusion You will shortly undergo a treatment or procedure with which there is a risk that you must receive an administration of blood (a blood transfusion). You will find information about blood transfusion here. If you still have questions, do not hesitate to put these to your physician. Why a blood transfusion? Approximately 250,000 Dutch people receive blood transfusions. This involves, among others, accident victims, patients undergoing a (major) operation and patients that are being treated for cancer or (malignant) blood diseases. Blood transfusions are prescribed by your physician, if that is necessary for your treatment. However, your physician will not do this without your consent (unless there is an acute situation). In order to help you arrive at a well-considered choice, your physician will provide you beforehand with clear cut information about: the reason for the blood transfusion, the risks that are associated with the transfusion, the risks that arise if you do not consent to a blood transfusion, possible alternatives for the blood transfusion, or whether transfusion with your own blood is possible with some procedures. How safe is a blood transfusion? The following measures are taken in order to make blood transfusions as safe as possible: Only healthy people can become blood donors, donors (the people that give blood for transfusion) give their blood voluntarily and are not paid for this, and all the donor blood is checked for:
If it appears that the blood may be infected, then it is destroyed. Nonetheless, there remains (despite all precautions) a very small chance of infection with a virus or pathogen through the blood transfusion (thus, the risk that a unit of blood is infected with HIV is smaller and one in a million). It may be that the blood donor was infected only a short time ago. The presence of the pathogen in his blood can therefore not yet be demonstrated. It is also possible that the concentration of the virus in the blood is so slight that it can not be demonstrated by the blood test. It can also happen that there are viruses that we do not yet know in the blood or for which the blood is, for other reasons, not tested. There are also conditions (such as the variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease) for which no test yet exists and for which the risk of transfer through blood transfusion is unknown. It is important that the blood that is administered to someone ‘matches’ with him or her. We therefore extract blood from you in order to determine your blood group and rhesus factor. Some people have antibodies in their blood against the blood cells of others. These antibodies can be present after a pregnancy or previous blood transfusion. If that is the case, it can take longer before ‘matching’ blood can be found. Finally, the nurse will check once again before you receive a blood transfusion to make sure that the blood from the donor is, indeed, intended for you. Top Undesirable effects of the blood transfusion An allergic reaction can occur in patients. Such a reaction is distinguished by fever, chills, hives, itching or a red skin. This can frequently be simply treated with medicine. Patients sometimes form antibodies against other people’s blood cells after a blood transfusion. This can also give a reaction in the form of fever. This reaction can be treated medicinally. Such a reaction can also be caused by antibodies against blood cells from a certain blood group. In the latter case, you will receive a blood group card that has a report of this data upon it. You must always show this to your physician with following blood transfusions. Can I refuse a blood transfusion? Yes, you can. But, when doing so, consider that other possibilities do not always exist. Blood transfusions are often life-saving. Some operations or treatments are even impossible to perform without blood transfusion. Refusing a blood transfusion sometimes means a greater risk to your health than receiving a blood transfusion. Have a timely discussion about your doubts concerning the blood transfusion with the physician that treats you. A transfusion with your own blood If the state of your health allows it, you can come under consideration for a so-called ‘autologous transfusion’. This involves you allowing your own blood to be extracted prior to an operation so that you can be given it back again during the operation. If you want to (and may) have your own blood administered, then you must go to the blood bank a couple of times in the month before the operation in order to have a half litre of blood extracted. Your own blood can be given back to you again during the operation or shortly thereafter. If you lose a great amount of blood during the operation, the possibility is not excluded that you will then have to have to receive blood from a donor. You must fulfil a number of conditions in order to be considered for an ‘autologous transfusion’. Your general physical condition must be good, your blood vessels must be appropriate for repeated blood extractions and the tests of blood-transmissible diseases must be generally negative. Finally, it is a requirement that the date of the operation be established well in advance (see the folder ‘Giving blood for yourself’). It is also possible to have blood extracted in the hospital, right before the operation, or just before, or during, the anaesthesia. The shortage of blood in your body will be immediately supplemented with a saline solution. You will have your blood once again administered after the operation. This method can only be employed in the hospital with operations that usually involve little blood loss. Finally, it is possible with some operations involving considerable blood loss (such as by vesicle operations) that the blood that comes from the wound is sucked up with a special apparatus. The blood is subsequently given back to the patient. You can discuss with your treating physician or anaesthesiologist whether you can be considered for one of these methods. Want to know more? We have told you many things about blood transfusion on this page. If, after reading, you still have questions or comments, then feel free to present these to your treating physician. In closing If you need blood, it will be provided for you. This goes without saying. Please help to keep it that way. Discuss this with people around you. Every healthy individual between 18 and 70 years of age can donate blood. You can obtain more information from your regional blood bank. Top |