Blood transfusions

Indications:

Anaemia when PCV <10% or <20% and falling rapidly

Haemostatic disease

Plasma component deficiencies

Blood products:

Product                                     Use

Fresh whole blood                     acute haemorrhage, DIC, bleeding disease, acute haemolytic disease, anaemia

Stored whole blood                   acute haemorrhage, DIC, acute haemolytic disease

Packed red blood cells              Useful for chronic anaemia

Fresh plasma/fresh                     hypoproteinaemia, clotting factor deficiencies, DIC,

frozen plasma                            failure of passive transfer

Volume to transfuse:

Volume=K x body weight x required increase in PCV/donor PCV

K=66 for cats                            90 for dogs

Volume to take for transfusion

Can take 10% of circulating volume = 90ml/kg for dogs  66ml/kg for cats

Rate of transfusion:

20ml/kg/hour in hypovolaemia

4ml/kg/hour

Crossmatching/typing

All cats must be typed or crossmatched before transfusing as fatal transfusion reactions can occur on the first transfusion in felines.

In an emergency situation, it is usually safe to transfuse dogs of unknown blood type once, but it is preferable to type or crossmatch to reduce the risk of a future transfusion reaction.

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Copyright © 2003 The Downs Veterinary Practice
Last modified: December 08, 2003