Objective: To assess the spectrum of patients who developed recurrent acute transfusion reactions (TRs) and to characterize these recurrent TRs.
Methods: This retrospective study included patients who developed ≥2 acute TRs between April 2017 and March 2020 in a tertiary medical centre.
Results: Among 216 TRs that occurred after 2024 transfusions in 87 patients, 66 (75.9%) patients reported a history of transfusions before the first TR and 70 (80.5%) patients received further transfusions after the last TR; with the same type of TR and reaction to the same type of blood product observed in 59 (67.8%) patients and 56 (64.4%) patients, respectively. TRs were most commonly associated with packed red blood cell (PRBC) transfusions and a febrile non-haemolytic transfusion reaction (FNHTR) was the most common type of TR. However, leukocyte reduced (LR) PRBCs were less common than LR platelets among transfusions with TR (22.7% [27/119] versus 75.0% [57/76], respectively) and premedication was prescribed before 196 of 216 (90.7%) transfusions with TR.
Conclusion: Most patients with recurrent TRs received repeated transfusions in addition to transfusions with TR. Instead of considering premedication, an increase in the use of LR might be the strategy to reduce the recurrence of TR.
Keywords: Recurrent transfusion reaction; leukocyte reduction; platelet; premedication; red blood cell.