3-15. RECIPIENT FOLLOW-UP FOR POST-TRANSFUSION HEPATITIS
a. It is imperative that the blood bank be notified of every patient who develops
hepatitis, within 2 weeks to 12 months, following transfusion. In addition to notification
by the recipient, his family, or his physicians, there are other sources for obtaining
information about hepatitis patients:
(1)
The hospital's medical record room.
(2)
The gastroenterology service.
(3)
The pathology department.
(4)
The hospital's social service and business offices.
(5)
The hospital's Infection Control Office.
(6)
The local public health service.
b. All reported cases of acute liver dysfunction after transfusion of blood or blood
components should be investigated as possible post-transfusion hepatitis, unless known
to be otherwise. Sample forms for evaluating patients with possible post-transfusion
hepatitis and for evaluation of implicated donors are provided (see figures 3-4, 3-5, 3-6,
and 3-7).
c. A system for recording and reporting of all cases of known or suspected
post-transfusion hepatitis is required by the AABB Standards. When a case of
post-transfusion hepatitis is reported, all implicated donors must be identified and the
facilities that collected the blood must be notified. It must be possible to trace a unit of
blood and its components from final disposition (recipient, shipped, discarded) back to
donor source and to recheck the laboratory records applying to the specific unit and its
components and any adverse reactions or disease transmission.
d. Federal regulations require that fatalities attributed to transfusion
complications (for example, hepatitis, hemolytic reactions,and so forth) be reported to
the Bureau of Biologics. In addition, records must be kept of the number of cases of
transfusion-associated hepatitis (including those confirmed as HBsAg-posltive) reported
to the blood bank and the number of donors found to be HBsAg-positlve.
MD0846
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