All issues > Volume 37(4); 1994

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1994;37(4):452-456. Published online April 15, 1994.

Packed Red Cell Transfusion in Neonate : Effects of Age of Red Cells on Serum Laboratory Values and Readjustment of Hematocrit Values after Transfusion

Dong Ha DH Lee¹, Jin Kyung JK Kim¹, Heng Mi HM Kim¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Kyungpook University, Daegu, Korea

Abstract

Sick neonates often require periodic small volume transfusion(10mg/kg) to replace blood draw for laboratory monitoring during their hospital stay. The effect of packed red cell transfusion on the hematocrit, potassium, ionized calcium, acid base status, glucose and indirect bilirubin was investigated in 25 transfusions. Analysis of transfused blood by the age of the red cells, older red cells (more than 5 days old, 13¡¾7 days) showed increased potassium (27.2¡¾14.1mEq/L vs 11.3¡¾4.9mEq/L), decreased bicarbonate (14.4¡¾2.6mEq/L vs 19.1¡¾4.8mEq/L) and glucose (130¡¾28mg/dl) compared with newer red cells (less than 5 days) (p<0.05). No significant changes occured in hematocrit and pH. Inspite of these results, the transfusion of the older red cells did not affect the serum potassium, ionized calcium, pH, bicarbonate, glucose and indirect bilirubin level in neonates. The hematocrit of infants increated significantly after transfusion from 29.6%¡¾4.3% to 38.3%¡¾6.1%(mean¡¾SD) (p<0.05). Transfusion of older cells seemed to be as equally effective as newer ones. The value of hematocrit obtained immediately after transfusion does not show any differences compared to those obtained 30min, 1, 2, 4, 6 and 24hours after transfusion. The result in the study indicate that there was no adverse after transfusion with packed red cell more than 5 days old and no significant difference in hematocrit observed between 0 to 24 hours following transfusion. Therfore old red cell more than 5 days can be used safely for sick neonatal neonatal transfusion and the stored donor can be optimized for repeated blood transfusion.

Keywords :Transfusion, Packed red cells, Neonate