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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Take the CME quiz: Vol. 28 No. 8, August 2007 Rapid Responses: Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Rapid Responses are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services E-mail this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to My File Cabinet Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Bell, M. D. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Bell, M. D. Related Collections Disorders of Blood/Neoplasms Emergency Care

(Pediatrics in Review. 2007;28:299-304.)
© 2007 American Academy of Pediatrics

Consultation with the Specialist

Red Blood Cell Transfusions

The first 300 words of the full text of this article appear below.

	Objectives

 
After completing this article, readers should be able to:

1. Discuss the complications of a red blood cell transfusion for a child who has autoimmune hemolytic anemia.
   
2. Delineate the risk of transmitting infectious diseases during blood transfusions.
   
3. Describe the hemolytic, febrile, and urticarial reactions that may be associated with red blood cell transfusions.
   
4. Explain the role of red blood cell transfusions in the management of anemia.
   

	Introduction

 
Red blood cells (RBCs) carry hemoglobin-bound oxygen from the lungs to capillaries, where they release some of their oxygen for diffusion into surrounding tissues that have lower oxygen tension. The ability to increase cardiac output and to shift the oxygen dissociation curve of hemoglobin allows the body, in most instances, to compensate for loss of oxygen-carrying capacity, increased tissue need, or hypoxia. In some circumstances, however, the compensatory mechanisms are insufficient, and RBC transfusion may be beneficial.

The first reported blood transfusion took place between two dogs in 1666 at Oxford University in an experiment by Richard Lower. By the following year, French physician Jean Denys was transfusing blood from lambs and calves into patients afflicted with mental illness, hoping to balance their "humors" with those of the docile, domesticated animals. Many transfusion recipients had acute hemolytic reactions, and some died (Denys was tried for murder in one instance), essentially putting a halt to the use of blood transfusions for more than a century.

In 1818, British obstetrician James Blundell performed the first known human-to-human transfusions, reporting success in some women who had severe postpartum hemorrhage. By mid-century, the first transfusions in the United States were performed, but they remained rare until the 20th century.

The early 1900s brought major advances in transfusion medicine, starting with Karl Landesteiner's discovery and description of the ABO blood grouping system (he called it ABC) and, subsequently, the Rh . . . [Full Text of this Article]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				E F Bell When to transfuse preterm babies Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed., November 1, 2008; 93(6): F469 - F473. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]