Immunohematology (Research Paper Sample)

Immunohematology (Blood Bank) Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Course Title Instructor’s Name Date Immunohematology (Blood Bank) Massive Transfusion Protocol Massive transfusion protocol (MTP) refers to any situation where a patient requires and is receiving high amounts of blood transfusions. MTP is a rapid administration of blood products (a minimum of 6 units of PRBC) in a 1:1:1 ratio to manage hemorrhagic shock. The procedure is used on a subset of patients with “massive transfusion” eligible for the MTP (Farkas, 2021). Neonatal and Pediatric Transfusions Neonates are infants for up to 28 days. Transfusions for such individuals are based on their birth weight and are done in NICUs (JPAC 2022). Transfusion triggers for neonates are based on expert opinion from one context to another and may be based on liberal or restrictive red cell transfusion policies for affected babies (JPAC, 2022). Pediatric transfusion occurs during cardiac surgery for children in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) (JPAC, 2022). Transfusion-dependent children with chronic conditions such as hemoglobinopathies, chemotherapy for malignancies, or thalassemia major (JPAC, 2022). Organ Transplantation Transfusion Transplants are miracles of modern science, using tissues from one individual to improve health outcomes for another. Inadequate improvement in graft survival after transplantation undermines transplantation tolerance. Donor-specific transfusion is an antigen-specific immunosuppressive strategy with long-term clinical benefits for graft survival through modulation of the recipient’s immune system (Matignon et al., 2011). Therapeutic Apheresis Procedures Therapeutic apheresis (TA) is a treatment technique that involves the removal of abnormal cells in the blood that cause certain diseases. The treatment administers cells or plasma constituents in subtherapeutic concentrations (Fridey & Kaplan, 2022). Apheresis is done on donors to obtain individual blood components such as RBCs, platelets, or plasma that can then be transfused to different patients to treat different disorders. Procedures provided in TA include Extracorporeal Photopheresis (ECP), Leukapheresis, (Depletion of WBCs), Plasmapheresis (Therapeutic Plasma Exchange), Plateletpheresis (Platelet Depletion), Red Blood cell (RCB) exchange and Therapeutic Phlebotomy (INOVA, 2022). ECP is done when medications are not effective for conditions such as Graft Versus Host Disease (GVHD), cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma, or organ transplant rejection (INOVA, 2022). Leukapheresis is done to eliminate excess WBCs to minimize conditions such as bleeding in the brain (INOVA, 2022). Plasmapheresis eliminates disease causing proteins or to replace missing proteins (INOVA, 2022). Plateletpheresis reduces dangerously high platelet count in patients to minimize the occurrence of a stroke or heart attack (INOVA, 2022). RBC exchange relaces abnormal RBCs to reduce the effects of affected RBCs such as shortness of breath, lung tissue damage, or stroke (INOVA, 2022). Finally, Therapeutic Phlebotomy is done periodically for patients with blood dycrasias by removing blood from a vein to treat the disorder. Sickle Cell Anemia Patients Sickle cell anemia is a genetic disorder that causes the production of abnormal hemoglobin. Blood transfusion provides different blood components to the recipient to lessen anemia and reduce blood viscosity. Simple and exchange transf...