A suspected case of transfusion-related acute lung injury

Transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) is a rare but serious complication of blood transfusion. We present a suspected case of TRALI in a 39-year-old female patient who underwent total abdominal hysterectomy under uneventful general anesthesia. The patient developed acute desaturation due to...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lulu Sherif, J Srikantu, Prithi Jain, Kishan Shetty, Brijesh Khandige
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2011-01-01
Series:Lung India
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.lungindia.com/article.asp?issn=0970-2113;year=2011;volume=28;issue=3;spage=216;epage=218;aulast=Sherif
Description
Summary:Transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) is a rare but serious complication of blood transfusion. We present a suspected case of TRALI in a 39-year-old female patient who underwent total abdominal hysterectomy under uneventful general anesthesia. The patient developed acute desaturation due to noncardiogenic pulmonary edema while receiving compatible blood transfusion on the second postoperative day. As her symptoms were refractory to supportive treatment, she was mechanically ventilated for 3 days and successfully extubated on the fourth day. By exclusion, a clinical diagnosis of TRALI was made. The treatment for TRALI requires discontinuing transfusion and giving respiratory and cardiovascular support. Most cases show clinical improvement in first few hours and resolve completely within 96 h.
ISSN:0970-2113
0974-598X