Effect of Blood Transfusion on Acid Base, Glucose and Electrolyte Status in Very Low Birth Weight Infants

Abstract

The effect of citrate phosphate dextrose (CPD) blood transfusion on the acid base, glucose and electrolyte status of VLBW infants was studied in infants aged 1–7, 8–20 and > 20 days; a 4th group composed of infants > 20 days subjected to a second transfusion was also studied. All the infants remained clinically well during and after the transfusion. Only the infants in the group 1–7 days experienced a signifcant fall in ionic Ca and PO₂. No significant change in all the other parameters studied was observed. In the other groups of infants studied, the changes observed were not significant, and became less with increasing age and repeat transfusion. VLBW infants apparently tolerate CPD blood transfusion well.

Red blood transfusion in preterm infants: changes in glucose, electrolytes and acid base balance

“…Unlike previous studies,[1319] who found a decrease of glycemia following transfusion, we found that there was no change in the blood glucose levels in our preterm infants. This was observed despite of the high blood glucose in the donor units which could lead to a hyperinsulinemia[20] and despite our practice of withholding, all enteral and parenteral nutrition during the transfusion.…”

“…Although this finding agrees with previous studies,[1319] done during the first week of life, the calcium concentration in our study remained within the normal range. From a clinical point of view, none of our patients exhibited clinical signs of hypocalcemia except for one patient with borderline hypocalcemia whose level remained unchanged.…”

“…To our knowledge, only a few studies[1213] have examined the possible adverse metabolic effects of blood transfusion in neonates.…”

Effects of red blood cell transfusions during the first week of life on acid‐base, glucose, and electrolytes in preterm neonates

“…As previously described, 15 the blood glucose of our infants was lowered by transfusions, despite the high glucose concentration in donor units. We did not observe a clinically relevant decrease of glycemia in infants after RBC transfusion, nor a correlation between glucose intake through transfusions and the decrease of glycemia.…”

Single blood donor exposure programme for preterm infants: a large open study and an analysis of the risk factors to multiple donor exposure

“…All the selected infants in our study were followed until Table 1 Comparison between the population exposed to only one blood donor (group 1) and the population exposed to at least two donors (group 2) (NS non signi®cant) Group [16]); (2) the transfused globular volume was similar (14±15 ml/kg with a 80% haematocrit in the single-donor programme trial of Lee et al [6]); (3) the mean time course between two transfusions was longer (16 days vs. 5 days in the latter study) [6]. The safety and the tolerance of repeated transfusions with blood stored until a 35-day expiry date have been already demonstrated [3,6,8,13,20,22]. According to a recent study, this duration can be extended to 42 days without adverse eect upon pH, haematonit and potassium concentration of the stored blood [19].…”