question about transfusion practices...

[Wendy Beltrami]

Hi All,

I am here watching my son's new marrow being infused. Amazing, thrilling, and also a bit anticlimactic! The nurse is here with us for the duration which looks like it may be as long as 4-5 hours. So, we were just chatting about one of my pet peeves which is that when platelets, rbcs or in this case MARROW is being infused, many do not squeeze the little chamber with the filter in it so that the cells are not slamming down on the filter and instead are hitting a "cushion" of other cells that are sitting on top of the filter.

Does anyone else understand what I am referring to and if so, do you know if this is written somewhere in some procedure guide that tells nurses how to transfuse blood? I would swear that I read this in some kind of blood bank literature or...... something. Just can't put my finger on it.

Can anyone help?

Wendy/mom to Grant...
recipient of super marrow from German donor TODAY, 9/11, the world day of prayer.
Getting RID of his aplastic anemia for good!

[Neil Cuadra]

Wendy,

I hope we all learn the answer, but I just have to post and tell you that we've been thinking about Grant all day today.

"Amazing, thrilling, and also a bit anticlimactic" ... that certainly brings back memories of the day Ruth received her marrow after we waited all day for it to be flown across the country escorted by a courier.

The marrow infusion is one small step for Grant and one giant leap for his treatment! We wish Grant all the luck in the world in the crucial upcoming days.

[Hawaii Bill]

Wendy,

Please accept my own heartfelt wishes for a speedy and problem-free treatment and recovery for Grant.

Interesting question about the filter. I'll ask next time I'm transfused, just to see what is said. I'll ask all the infusion nurses I see.

Bill

[Wayne O'Shana]

Hi Wendy:

I hope this is the end of a long and hard-fought battle. When I Googled "Pall Corp instruction blood filter" my machine didn't want to respond when I clicked on a promising hit. Try the Pall Corp home page at:

www.pallcorp.com I finally gave up trying to find any instruction information, but did find a phone number: 1-800-645-6578

Best wishes for a speedy recovery...

[Wendy Beltrami]

Hi all-
Today I asked Dr. Margolis about this and he said he would look into it and try to determine whether this is urban legend or fact. I have spent a loooong time online trying to find anything about this. I am so frustrated because I know I read this SOMEWHERE.

I did find this:
http://www.bbts.org.uk/PDFs/educatio...0knowledge.pdf

If you look at this link on page 16 of the document under the heading "Priming the line" it talks about doing as we have discussed above but the reason it gives is not to protect the product but instead to reduce the risk of clot formation.

So, my next step was to ask the nursing student that is working here as an assistant today. She will graduate from nursing school in December. I asked her if she has ever heard that in her classes. She said YES(!) she has but that she has noticed that it depends on hospital policy and that some places follow that procedure and some don't!

I'll keep you posted.
Wendy/mom to Grant.

[Hawaii Bill]

Hi all,

I mentioned this filter prep to my hemo yesterday and he said that they should not be using filters, as the blood is leukocyte-reduced at donation???

I have a platelet transfusion coming up, I can't wait to ask the nurse!