Receiving a blood transfusion is associated with a greater risk of death for patients with acute coronary syndromes

Blood Transfusions Raise Death Risk in Very Ill

Receiving a blood transfusion is associated with a greater risk of death for patients with acute coronary syndromes

FDA criticized for wait in warning blood recipients about hepatitis C

Pre-1990 transfusions may have infected thousands with hepatitis C: Letters will warn people of risk

Millions unaware they have hepatitis C

House panel to conduct hearing on exposure to tainted blood

Medical Study News
Published: Tuesday, 5-Oct-2004
http://www.news-medical.net/print_article.asp?id=5319

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By Ed Edelson
HealthScoutNews Reporter

TUESDAY, Sept. 24 (HealthScoutNews) -- Blood transfusions appear to increase the risk of death for some critically ill patients, a new study finds.

And while a Canadian expert says the results of the study are far from definitive, he says that he and many other Canadian doctors have reduced the number of transfusions they give in such cases, based on the results of a carefully controlled study he reported several years ago.

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Medical Study News
Published: Tuesday, 5-Oct-2004
http://www.news-medical.net/print_article.asp?id=5319

Receiving a blood transfusion is associated with a greater risk of death for patients with acute coronary syndromes, such as a myocardial infarction (heart attack), according to a study in the October 6 issue of JAMA.

The use of invasive procedures for treatment of ischemic heart disease has more than tripled in the past 2 decades and is likely to increase in high-risk patients, according to background information in the article. This, coupled with the widespread use of antithrombotic drugs, has increased the potential for bleeding and blood transfusion among patients with cardiovascular disease. Approximately 12 million units of blood are transfused to 3.5 million patients each year in the United States, and although transfusing blood to anemic patients with ischemic heart disease may theoretically increase oxygen delivery and improve outcomes, there is no definitive evidence to support such a practice, according to the article.

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From Reporter Louise Schiavone October 7, 1998
Web posted at: 8:06 p.m. EDT (0006 GMT)
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9810/07/hepatitis.c.delay/

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A key lawmaker is charging that the Food and Drug Administration is not moving fast enough in alerting blood recipients about the risks they face from hepatitis C.

Roughly 300,000 of the 4 million Americans who have hepatitis C got it from blood transfusions.

Surgeon General David Satcher has pledged to oversee an aggressive notification program.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- As many as 290,000 people may be notified that they may have been accidentally infected with the hepatitis C virus during blood transfusions.

People who received blood before 1990, when screening tests were instituted, are at risk. Blood donation groups will send letters notifying those who received transfusions from blood donors who have since tested positive for the virus, which affects 4 million Americans.

"I think we are very concerned about this disease. We think it truly represents an epidemic," Surgeon General David Satcher said on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Wednesday.

Last year, a government panel composed of liver experts and medical ethicists estimated that 290,000 people may have contracted the potentially serious liver infection during pre-1990 transfusions. However, the odds of infection for a person who received only a single blood donation is not terribly high.

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"We know that many Americans infected with hepatitis C are unaware that they have the disease," said newly appointed Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher at a House Subcommittee on Human Resources hearing. "Unfortunately, many of them cannot be readily identified because the disease does not cause symptoms until it is far advanced."

The House Government Reform and Oversight Committee's human resources subcommittee will conduct the hearing.

Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop and representatives from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the American Liver Foundation are scheduled to testify.

The hearing will focus on the estimated 1 million Americans who received blood products contaminated with hepatitis C before 1990, when a test was developed to screen for the disease.