Blood Transfusion: What is Blood Transfusion?

Blood transfusion is a life saving procedure for millions of people who suffer excessive blood loss due to accidents, surgery or other medical conditions. Blood transfusion is also conducted when a patient’s body is unable to manufacture blood due to illnesses. The process helps in normalizing the functioning of the body. People who require frequent blood transfusions throughout their lives include those suffering from sickle cell disease and some cancer patients.. In India, a total of 30 million blood units are transfused every year.

Blood Transfusion: The Concept

Blood transfusion is a safe and common method of transferring blood or blood components from one person into the blood vessels of another person. The blood is transferred by the use of intravenous (IV) line in the circulatory system.

To carry out blood transfusion, an IV line is inserted into the patient’s blood vessels with the help of a needle. The patient receives pure and safe blood through the IV line. The procedure takes one to four hours depending on the quantity of blood required by the patient. If proper safety measures are taken, blood transfusion proceeds smoothly. 

However, if blood transfusion is done without much care, there may be a few complications.

Blood Transfusion: Mandatory Safety Measures to Conduct Blood Transfusion

Blood transfusions carry a certain amount of risk if not performed properly. Certain disesases that might be contracted through the transfusion of infected blood are HIV, Hepatitis B/C, HTVL-1 and Malaria. Hence, these diseases and their complications can be prevented by establishing and conforming to a safe blood transfusion system. Here are some key safety measures to follow before blood transfusion:

• The blood should be checked for the presence of Transfusion Transmitted Infections (TTI) and other disease carriers.
•  Ensure that the blood will not cause any unfavorable reactions.
•  Blood should be collected only from healthy donors.
•  All prospective donors shall be subject to pre-donation evaluation before they donate blood.