IGNORANCE about a leading cause of death from blood transfusions is resulting in hundreds of unnecessary deaths each year, experts have told Â鶹´«Ã½. And they say just a few simple measures could help prevent many of these fatalities.
The problem is called “transmission-related acute lung injury”, or TRALI, and it’s an immune reaction that seems to be triggered by antibodies in some donor blood. In most patients the reaction is mild, but in some it can be lethal, and no one knows why. The “bad blood” appears to come primarily from people who have been exposed to a variety of blood groups in the past,…
