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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 10, 2007
DAYTON, OH — (October 10, 2007) -Two studies done at Duke University have garnered a great number of national headlines over the past few days. Community Blood Center views the new information as positive because it may open routes for making blood transfusions more effective. The information contained in these new studies should not cause patients to be overly concerned when receiving a blood transfusion if their doctor believes the benefits outweigh the risks of treatment. Donated blood saves lives.
One of the Duke University studies describes a rather rapid change in the levels of a chemical called nitric oxide or NO in stored red blood cells. The depletion of NO in donated blood may impair the ability of red blood cells to deliver oxygen to the body after transfusion by changing the way blood vessels respond to low oxygen levels.
These studies build on a substantial body of evidence demonstrating changes in red blood cells during storage that may not be good for the way the cells are intended to function, including changes in nitric oxide. Whether the NO changes described in the study reverse after transfusion, as happens with some other storage issues, is not known.
Clinical trials and retrospective studies in the past 10-15 years have raised questions about the benefits and risks of transfusions on patients, and have already resulted in increasingly conservative transfusion practices. Therefore, it is unlikely that the new data will materially change those practices. Trials are ongoing now that will add to our knowledge of how well blood transfusions work and this work will perhaps tell us how to make them work better. Blood centers have long been a major pipeline of this information to the hospitals they serve and will continue to disseminate the information as it develops.
The data in the studies are of great interest to the transfusion medicine community and need to be repeated in other systems and models. The actual clinical impact to patients needs to be determined and methods explored to prevent the changes that have been observed. Bottom line, if this information is confirmed we have the opportunity to improve what we do.
Decisions made to transfuse at the bedside are very complicated, but there is no doubt that red blood cell transfusions save or enhance the lives of bleeding and anemic patients in the US every day.
Physicians who prescribe blood transfusions need to be familiar with the range of information referred to above, including this new work. Patients and their families need to understand that what we know about the risks and benefits of blood transfusion will change with time and new data. Most important in the decisions made regarding transfusion is the circumstances of the individual patient. Patients, in consultation with their physicians, need to be comfortable that benefits and risks are correctly balanced.
Copyright 2005 Community Blood Center
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