Why should blood products be irradiated?
Irradiated blood components are used to prevent Transfusion-associated graft-versus host disease (TA-GvHD), the primary cause of which is proliferation and engraftment of transfused donor T-lymphocytes in the bone marrow of susceptible recipients.
What happens if a patient receives irradiated blood products?
Irradiated or non-irradiated transfusions have many risks involved including elevated potassium levels and graft versus host disease (TA-GVHD). Irradiated blood is able to destroy the leukocytes responsible for TA-GVHD, but it adversely causes elevated extracellular potassium due to hemolysis of the RBC’s.
Do kidney transplants need irradiated blood?
It is not necessary to provide, at baseline, irradiated blood products in solid organ transplantation, even after transplantation when patients are receiving immunosuppressive therapies (unless patients are being treated with the medications listed in Table 4).
Do leukemia patients need irradiated blood?
If you’ve been treated with the chemotherapy drugs fludarabine or bendamustine and you then need a blood transfusion, you’ll need blood that has been treated with radiation (irradiated blood). This kills any white cells in the donor’s blood and protects you against a very rare type of transfusion reaction.
Who should get irradiated blood?
To prevent ta-GvHD, irradiated blood products should be given to patients at risk: patients after bone marrow transplantation, newborns and children in the 1st year, patients with severe combined immunodeficiency, and patients receiving blood from first-degree relatives.
Which patients should receive irradiated blood components?
Immunocompromised patients such as
Fresh liquid plasma (never frozen) may have a small amount of viable lymphocytes and should be irradiated if the patient has indications for irradiated cellular blood products.
Do heart transplant patients need irradiated blood?
Why are red cells irradiated?
Irradiation of red blood cells and whole blood results in reduced post transfusion red cell recovery and increases the rate of efflux of intracellular potassium. It has no clinically significant effect on red cell pH, glucose, 2,3 DPG levels or ATP.
What is irradiated red blood cells used for?
Irradiated blood is blood that has been treated with radiation (by x-rays or other forms of radioactivity) to prevent Transfusion- Associated Graft-versus-Host Disease (TA-GvHD).