ADVERSE EVENTS OF BLOOD TRANSFUSION AND BLOOD SAFETY IN CLINICAL PRACTICE

Blood transfusions can be lifesaving. The majority are completed without incident. However, every transfusion recipient runs the risk of developing a transfusion reaction or adverse event. These reactions can be acute, occurring during or soon after transfusion, or delayed, occurring days to weeks later. Hemovigilance is defined as a set of surveillance procedures covering whole transfusion chain from the collection of blood and its components to the follow up of its recipients, intended to collect and access information on unexpected or undesirable effects resulting from the therapeutic use of labile blood products, and to prevent their occurrence and recurrence. Haemovigilance will also have a major impact on optimal blood usage. It is expected that existing haemovigilance systems in hospitals will contribute in the near future also to the surveillance of optimal blood use. A functional haemovigilance system can act as a backbone to monitor the transfusion practices and be accountable to appropriate documentation, reporting and investigation of transfusion reaction. In this review, we will review about the haemovigilance process and the different transfusion reactions associated with blood transfusion in clinical practice.