Allergic transfusion reactions in regions with alpha-gal syndrome
Researchers have identified a link between blood type O patients receiving B or AB plasma and allergic transfusion reactions in regions with high alpha-gal syndrome prevalence. Clinicians are advised to report severe reactions and notify blood banks when patients with known alpha-gal syndrome require transfusions.
Why it matters
This discovery helps improve patient safety protocols for blood transfusions in areas where alpha-gal syndrome is common.
In U.S. areas with a high prevalence of alpha-gal syndrome, patients with blood type O who received B or AB vs. O plasma/platelets had a significantly greater rate of allergic transfusion reactions, according to study data.
These findings were published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
“We think that all clinicians should be made aware that transfusion-related alpha-gal syndrome (TRAGS) is a possible complication of transfusion,” Richard M. Kaufman, MD , and Nancy M. Dunbar, MD, both professors of pathology and laboratory medicine at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, told Healio in a statement. “We encourage all clinicians to report severe allergic reactions to their local blood bank/transfusion service.
“We also recommend that clinicians notify the blood bank if a patient with known alpha-gal syndrome (AGS) requires transfusion,” Kaufman and Dunbar said. “The blood bank can ensure that such patients are not issued B antigen-containing units.”
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