Life of Transfused blood in body
 

Hi everybody,
My 20 month old son is getting 150ml PRBC( 10ml/kg of weight). I just want to know how much Hb increases after transfusion. Also, how much the life of this transfused blood in body? I am just asking to monitor my son Hb level on every transfusion.Our frequency is 4 weeks to maintain Hb level of 7. What is the average frequency in this case.

Regards,
Father

I think this is different for everyone, depending on the severity of the disease. Early on, my husband went up a couple points and held the transfusion for weeks. Within a 1-2 months, he was getting weekly-bi weekly blood transfusions, but he had VSAA and went straight to transplant.

Hi, I'm so sorry to hear your young child is affected by AA. It is really great you found this site as the members can be so helpful.

As Samantha mentioned, increase in HB, as well as how long the increases will hold following a transfusion, vary depending on a number of factors. Sometimes this is dependent on the severity of the Aplastic Anemia. This can also vary depending on the freshness of the red cells, as well as how well the donor's red cells are accepted by the patients system.

I more closely followed my Hematocrit % levels (HCT) versus HB levels as these are what my medical team mostly used to determine when I would require transfusions (though many others on this site use the HB levels). Depending on the lab and the medical facility, these numbers may be represented in different forms as will the normal levels. At my clinic in the US, a normal Hematocrit % (HCT) for a woman is 36%-45% (not sure what the normal range is for children).

One challenge with AA is transfusion needs almost always vary because typically there are no precise patterns of blood count changes.

Best wishes,