Recent Updates

Striking the balance: protecting data privacy in research

Modified on:

Nov 26, 2020

Author: Rachel Ward, JD, BCom
Online publication date: August 2019
Target audience: health-care professionals and academics conducting research projects involving human participants.

This article provides health-care professionals and researchers with an overview of the frameworks that help protect individuals’ privacy in the context of research, a topic that is particularly relevant in a time of big data, artificial intelligence and significant advances in technologies that are reliant on data inputs.

Courses

Modified on:

Nov 22, 2020

Professional education curriculum and learning modules can be found at the links below. The Canadian Clinical Guide to Organ Donation is an organ donation curriculum for health professionals that enhances competencies in the identification and care of potential deceased donors and their families. The e-learning tissue continuing education module is titled: Increasing Tissue Donation in Deaths Occurring Out of Hospital.

ABO Subgroups

Modified on:

Nov 19, 2020

Authors: Youness Elkhalidy, MD, and Gwen Clarke, MD, FRCPC
Publication date: October 2020
Primary target audiences: Medical laboratory technologists (MLT) in a hospital laboratory, transfusion medicine physicians

The purpose of this document is to clarify the relevance of ABO subgroups for hospital blood banks selecting a red blood cell unit for transfusion and importance of working with Canadian Blood Services to investigate potential donors with an ABO subgroup.

Highly Sensitized Patient (HSP) Program

Modified on:

Nov 17, 2020

The Highly Sensitized Patient (HSP) Program was established by Canadian Blood Services in collaboration with provincial and territorial governments and organ donation and transplantation programs around the country to increase transplant opportunities for patients needing very specific matches from deceased kidney donors. Through the HSP Program, this group of patients now has access to a larger national donor pool, increasing the chance of a match.

Platelet Transfusion, Alloimmunization and Management of Platelet Refractoriness

Modified on:

Nov 16, 2020

Platelets are the smallest of the blood cells, with a diameter of two to three microns and no nucleus. Their main function is to mediate primary hemostasis, though they are involved in a number of other processes including primary immunity, tumour progression and inflammation.

CMV Seronegative, Irradiated and Washed Blood Components

Modified on:

Nov 16, 2020

Modified or specialty blood components may be useful in specific clinical settings to reduce the risk of transfusion-related harm. Specialty blood products available to physicians include CMV-seronegative, irradiated, and washed red blood cells or platelets. This chapter describes the preparation of these blood components and the clinical setting in which they are of greatest benefit.

Immune Globulin Products

Modified on:

Nov 16, 2020

Immune globulin (Ig) products are generated from plasma collected from a large number of carefully screened donors. Ig products may be used as replacement therapy for immunodeficiency patients or as immunomodulatory therapy for autoimmune and alloimmune disorders. Ig products include intravenous Ig (IVIg), subcutaneous Ig (SCIg), RhD Ig (RhIg) and hyperimmune globulins.

Hemostatic Disorders and Hereditary Angioedema

Modified on:

Nov 16, 2020

Abnormal bleeding may result from defects in platelets, coagulation factors and/or blood vessels. Screening tests for coagulation factor abnormalities include the activated Partial Thromboplastin Time (aPTT) and Prothrombin Time (PT) / International Normalized Ratio (INR). Thrombocytopenia is the most common platelet defect. Qualitative platelet defects may also occur and, in some cases, may be associated with thrombocytopenia. In patients with platelet defects, bleeding time and/or closure times using the platelet function analyzer (PFA-100/200^TM) may be prolonged. Vascular defects may be accompanied by joint hyperflexibility or skin laxity. Effective treatment of hemostatic disorders requires accurate diagnosis and special coagulation testing that may include coagulation factor assays, inhibitor assays, and platelet function tests. An algorithmic approach to diagnosis is beyond the scope of this review.

Preoperative Autologous Donation

Modified on:

Nov 16, 2020

This chapter focuses on preoperative autologous donation (PAD). There are other types of autologous blood use (e.g. acute normovolemic hemodilution and intraoperative and postoperative blood salvage) which are not discussed in this chapter.

PAD refers to the donation of blood by a patient for his/her own future use; generally this is for a scheduled elective surgery. The top three procedures associated with a request for a PAD are total hip replacement, total knee replacement and hysterectomy.

In most cases, allogeneic blood transfusions are a safe and available option. Autologous and directed donations should be confined to circumstances of rare blood types or plasma protein deficiencies in which allogeneic units may not meet patient needs. Rare blood types represent only a small number of autologous units collected each year. See Chapter 13 of this Guide for more information on directed donations.

Therapeutic Apheresis

Modified on:

Nov 16, 2020

Apheresis involves the removal of whole blood from an individual and its separation into components. A specified component is retained and the remainder is returned to the individual. Therapeutic apheresis is used to treat patients with a variety of disorders and has become a relatively common treatment modality. The rationale and techniques for therapeutic apheresis, as well as the care of the apheresis patient, will be discussed in this chapter.

Recent Updates

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