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By Kirsten Houmann, Ivanhoe Health Correspondent
ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Blood transfusions bring new life to many people, but they also bring new dangers. New research shows when it comes to transfusions, the older the blood, the higher the risk of infection.
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In a recent study, researchers found patients who received transfusions with blood that had been stored for 29 days or more were twice as likely to suffer from nosocomial, or hospital-acquired, infections including pneumonia, upper respiratory infections and sepsis.
Current federal regulations allow red blood cells to be stored for up to 42 days.
Researchers looked at the association between the age of packed red blood cells and the development of nosocomial infections in 422 blood transfusion patients. The average age of blood in the study was 26 days, and 70 percent of the blood transfused during the study was older than 21 days, Dr. Nahra said. The oldest blood was associated with the most infections.
David Gerber, D.O., study co-author and associate director of the medical/surgical intensive care unit at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, N.J., says a decision to cut the blood supply based on the results of this study alone wouldnt be a good idea.
Identification of problems in the blood supply is only part of the issue, Dr. Gerber told Ivanhoe. We still need to maintain a blood supply.
Still, Dr. Gerber says he would like to see more hospitals adopt a conservative strategy when it comes to blood transfusions by waiting until patients have a lower blood count before undergoing the procedure.
I suspect a more universally applied restrictive transfusion strategy would probably allow a shifting of the available blood supply to a younger supply of packed red blood cells, he said.
SOURCE: Ivanhoe interview with David Gerber, D.O.; presented at CHEST 2008, October 25-30, 2008; Philadelphia, Pa.
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