Blood Transfusion News and Research

RSS

Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood or blood-based products from one person into the circulatory system of another. Blood transfusions can be life-saving in some situations, such as massive blood loss due to trauma, or can be used to replace blood lost during surgery.

Delegates at the World Health Assembly adopt resolutions on variety of global health issues

The 63rd World Health Assembly, which brought together Health Ministers and senior health officials from the World Health Organization's Member States, concluded business and closed Friday evening.

24 May 2010

WPI, Cerus announce positive results from study of INTERCEPT Blood System to inactivate XMRV

The Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease (WPI) and Cerus Corporation announced positive results from a study demonstrating the efficacy of the INTERCEPT Blood System to inactivate XMRV, a human retrovirus, in donated platelet components.

18 May 2010

Immunetics receives $2.8M contract as part of NHLBI's REDS-II project

Immunetics, Inc. has been selected to receive a $2.8 million contract as part of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study-II project, a long term epidemiologic study of blood safety involving HIV and other infectious and non-infectious complications of blood transfusion.

18 May 2010

Nurses give evidence of the horrifying day in Dr. Jayant Patel’s surgery

The trial of Dr. Jayant Patel continues. In recent evidence at the court one of the operating theatre nurses revealed under oath to the Brisbane Supreme Court how staff had tried to deter former Bundaberg-based surgeon Jayant Patel from transferring an unstable patient from the theatre to ICU, where he died. There was earlier evidence that the man was bleeding uncontrollably and also allegations that Patel urged junior doctors not to tell anyone what happened.

12 May 2010

FDA approves Abbott Prism Chagas test to screen blood, tissue and organ donors for T. cruzi

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved a second test to screen blood, tissue and organ donors for a blood-borne parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi that causes Chagas disease, a serious and potentially fatal parasitic infection.

3 May 2010

FDA grants marketing clearance for Immucor's NEO automated blood bank instrument

Immucor, Inc., a global leader in providing automated instrument-reagent systems to the blood transfusion industry, today announced that its fourth generation automated instrument, NEO™, has been cleared for marketing in the U.S. by the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA"). NEO is a fully automated blood bank instrument designed to meet the needs of high volume laboratories.

30 Apr 2010

High incidence of MDS among seniors, elderly at increased risk of premature death: Study

Myelodysplastic syndromes - a group of serious blood cancers - are nearly five times more common in seniors than previously thought, according to a new study by researchers from the John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center.

27 Apr 2010

Study reveals new marker for predicting patients requiring blood transfusion in ICU

Receiving a blood transfusion in the intensive care unit (ICU) is not uncommon, but reliable predictors for patients that will require transfusion are not readily available. A new study published in the May issue of Anesthesiology seeks to reduce the occurrence of ICU transfusions, revealing a new marker for patients at higher risk for developing severe anemia and subsequently requiring transfusion in the ICU.

24 Apr 2010

Ban on Gay men from donating blood to be reviewed in light of new evidence

Australian Red Cross Blood Service (ARCBS) has recently announced plans for a review of Australia's ban on sexually-active gay men donating blood. Canada, Scotland, Sweden and New Zealand have already conducted such reviews and the US is soon to follow suit.

14 Apr 2010

Actual cost of blood 37% higher than previously estimated

A new blood transfusion cost analysis study published in the April 2010 issue of Transfusion, a peer-reviewed academic journal, shows that when all of the complex cost factors leading up to and after a red blood cell (RBC) transfusion are considered, the actual cost of blood is substantially higher than previously estimated.

7 Apr 2010

Emory University researchers develop experimental clinical test for XMRV

The recently discovered retrovirus, xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV), has been identified in some prostate cancer patients. In light of conflicting data concerning XMRV, standardized diagnostic testing is important to identify patients in which XMRV is present and to determine whether it plays a role in the incidence of prostate cancer.

6 Apr 2010

Hybrid revascularization procedure is safe and feasible for left main coronary artery stenosis

The left main coronary artery provides most of the blood to the heart, and current guidelines call for patients with blockages in this artery to undergo bypass surgery.

16 Mar 2010

Observational study on mild demonstrates acute safety of procedure in treatment of LSS

Medical device company Vertos Medical Inc. has reported that an observational study on mild, published in the January/February 2010 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Pain Physician, has demonstrated the acute safety of the procedure in the treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS).

24 Feb 2010

Blood transfusions based on single low hematocrit measurement questioned

A comparison study of nearly 1,900 patients published in Perfusion, a peer-reviewed academic journal, questions the long-standing practice of basing blood transfusion decisions on a single low hematocrit measurement result. In the study, titled Is it the Patient or the Physician who Cannot Tolerate Anemia?, researchers showed that a single measure of hematocrit is not a reliable indicator of transfusion need and that lower-than-normal hemoglobin levels have no adverse impact on patients.

19 Feb 2010

Multiple, independent European blood centers to report on INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets and plasma

Cerus Corporation announced today that investigators from blood centers in Sweden, Belgium, France and Slovenia will present their experience with the INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets and plasma during a leading international transfusion safety meeting, the XIIth International Haemovigilance Seminar taking place in Dubrovnik, Croatia from February 17 to 19.

18 Feb 2010

Patients receiving female-donor plasma did better than patients receiving male-donor plasma: Study

Three years after the U.S. blood banking industry issued recommendations that discourage transfusing plasma from female donors because of a potential antibody reaction, Duke University Medical Center researchers discovered that female plasma actually may have advantages.

12 Feb 2010

Cancer drug could be effective for treating recurrent nose bleeds

Patients suffering from hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT), an inherited vascular condition characterized by profuse nosebleeds, may find hope in a cancer-fighting drug called bevacizumab, also known as Avastin.

12 Feb 2010

Data provide key information about epigenetic profiles for gastric cancer

Gastric cancer, one of the most common types of cancer, is associated with high mortality rates. In the last decades, a decrease in the worldwide incidence has been observed with some changes in the therapeutic and diagnostic options.

10 Feb 2010

Congressman Rothman secures 1.49M in federal dollars for EHMC's bloodless medicine program

Congressman Steve Rothman (D-NJ) will be the featured speaker at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center today, 1:00-2:00 pm. Congressman Rothman will announce the latest batch of federal funds, $1.49 million, for the Institute for Patient Blood Management and Bloodless Medicine and Surgery. This brings the total amount of federal funding secured by Congressman Rothman for this institute to $4.69 million in federal resources and to over six million dollars to Hospital programs since 2002.

30 Jan 2010

Institute of Medicine urges healthcare providers to take steps to battle hepatitis B and C

The Institute of Medicine, a branch of the US National Academy of Sciences, is urging healthcare providers to take steps to battle liver-damaging hepatitis B and C, which are often overlooked viruses.

25 Jan 2010