Blood and blood products are collected as whole blood from donors in various anticoagulants. The blood and blood products which are used for transfusion are whole blood, packed red blood cells (PRBCs), platelet concentrates, fresh frozen plasma (FFP), cryoprecipitate, and plasma derivatives. Plasma derivatives are also used for transfusion such as albumin, intravenous immunoglobulin, anti-thrombin, and coagulation factor concentrates. Plasma derivatives are generally collected from several donors and pooled together and infectious organisms are removed by treating.

Separation of blood components from whole blood:

Blood is collected as whole blood of 450 ml (one unit of blood) in various anticoagulants. The whole blood is then processed to produce blood various blood components mentioned above. Most commonly blood is transfused as whole blood. To get blood components, whole blood is first separated by slow centrifugation into PRBCs and platelet rich/concentrated plasma.

You can find here What Infections can be Transmitted by Blood Transfusion?

Several adverse reactions to blood transfusion can occur despite checking, inspecting and testing at several levels. Fortunately, the common adverse reactions to blood transfusion are minor and serious reactions occur very rarely if ever. If any adverse reaction is suspected, the blood transfusion should be stopped immediately and reported to blood bank for investigation.

Commonly two types of adverse reactions to blood transfusion are seen, (1) immune mediated adverse reactions and (2) non immunologic adverse reactions. Complications due to infectious organisms may also occur in blood transfusion.

What are the immune mediated adverse reactions to blood transfusion?

The immune mediated adverse reactions to blood transfusion are FNHTR or febrile non hemolytic transfusion reaction (occurs 1-4 out of 100 units of blood transfusions or 1-4:100),