Preponderant use of fresh-frozen plasma in children despite weaker evidence

Use of Fresh Frozen Plasma in the Treatment of Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome in Children

Introduction Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) is an acute disease characterized by thrombocytopenia, microangiopathic hemolytic anaemia and renal involvement, ranging from a mild microhaematuria and proteinuria to renal failure with or without oligoanuria. In many cases other organs are involved as well: bowel, liver and central nervous system. HUS is a typical disease of the first years of life...

Fresh-frozen plasma use in a South African tertiary hospital.

Despite available guidelines on indications for fresh-frozen plasma (FFP) transfusion, inappropriate use is increasing worldwide. We evaluated FFP administration to patients admitted to the Steve Biko Academic Hospital over 4 months, including indications for use and completeness of requisition forms. Transfusions were considered inappropriate for 39.5% of units administered. Of request forms s...

Appropriate and inappropriate use of fresh frozen plasma.

OBJECTIVE To analyze the current situation of use and misuse of fresh frozen plasma (FFP) in various clinical situations. METHODS This was a cross sectional study done at Liaquat National Hospital (LNH) during a period of 4 months from December 2002 to March 2003. About 300 file records of those patients who received fresh frozen plasma were studied. Each file record was checked for the diagn...

Fresh frozen plasma induced thrombocytopenia

Transfusions of blood products are common in medical practice and can be lifesaving in certain situations. Potentially life threatening reactions could occur and physicians should be alerted. Here we describe a case of thrombocytopenia that was induced by transfusion of fresh frozen plasma (FFP). A 52 years old male presented to the emergency department after two episodes of hematochezia that r...

Avoiding the misuse of fresh frozen plasma.