TraQ Program of the BC PBCO

News items constitute an arbitrary selection of events. Links to some news items may no longer be active.

Index: General | Canada | Other countries (change over time)

GENERAL

• World Blood Donor Day, 14 June 2013 | WHO calls for all nations to have 100% of blood & blood products from unpaid donors by 2020
• TraQ's Calendar of Events (updated) | October is crowded
• Blood donation is valuable, so why not pay donors? (24 May 2013)
  • Lacetera N, Macis M, Slonim R. Economic rewards to motivate blood donations. Science 2013 May 24; 340(6135):927-8.
• AABB: Summary of significant changes to the Standards for Cellular Therapy Services, 6th ed.
• Dhingra N. International challenges of self-sufficiency in blood products. Transfus Clin Biol. 2013 May 2. [Epub ahead of print]
• AABB Transfusion News - 'Talking heads' videos offering 3-4 min. overviews of current transfusion research:
  • Association between blood storage duration and mortality remains unclear (29 Apr. 2013)
  • Red cell alloimmunization among patients with SCD and MDS(15 Apr. 2013)
• For fun: 'Suck it: the ins and outs of mouth pipetting' [Thanks to UK's IBMS April 2013 newsletter | Also see Dec. 2005 blog by TraQ webmaster 'Reflections of a Blood Eater'
• Morris A. Blajchman has retired as editor of Transfusion Medicine Reviews, a journal he founded 27 yrs ago. New editor is 'Sunny' Dzik, with Michael Murphy as associate editor. [Source: AABB News, Mar. 2013)
• AABB, CBS, & ISBT* apply to WHO to add Whole Blood and Red Blood Cells to the essential medicines lists (WHO EML and WHO EMLc) * But see below (14 Dec. 2012)
  • ISBT separately comments (21 Feb. 2013). "....However, we, are as yet uncertain as to the full impact that a listing might have on WHO member states. We, therefore urge the committee to take the time to consider this in detail when making a decision, for the reasons outlined...."
  • ISBT clarifies its position (28 Feb. 2013)
  • AABB CEO apologizes that application mistakenly included ISBT
  (8 Mar. 2013)
  • European Blood Alliance argues for more debate & support for existing proven strategies (18 Feb. 2013) | EBA represents 25 countries, inc. UK
• More on RBC shelf life: Blood older than three weeks not as effective, study finds (5 Mar. 2013) | Age of Blood Evaluation study
• 'Shelf life' of blood may be shorter than previously believed (4 Mar. 2013)
  • Frank SM, Abazyan B, Ono M, Hogue CW, Cohen DB, Berkowitz DE, Ness PM, Barodka VM. Decreased erythrocyte deformability after transfusion and the effects of erythrocyte storage duration. Anesth Analg. 2013 Feb 28. [Epub ahead of print]
• Shimada M, Tanabe A, Gunshin M, Riffenburgh RH, Tanen DA. Resource utilization in the emergency department of a tertiary care university-based hospital in Tokyo before and after the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2012 Dec;27(6):515-8.
• Cycling: History on the use of blood transfusions in cycling (27 Feb. 2013)
• Cycling: Transfusions 'could have led to deaths' says expert (15 Feb. 2013)
• AABB: New section on malaria
http://www.aabb.org/resources/governmentregulatory/donoreligibility/malaria/Pages/default.aspx
• Fire In The Blood documentary aims to shake up pharmaceutical industry (10 Feb. 2013) | Film reviewby PhD candidate at London School of Economics | Follow Fire in the Blood on Twitter
• Let’s do something about overuse of blood transfusions (4 Feb. 2013) | Patient Safety Science & Technology Summit
• Fetal fingernail almost kills mother, requires 22 blood transfusions (8 Jan. 2013)
• People with HCV infection almost 4x more likely to report tattoo, even when other major risk factors considered (25 Jan. 2013)
  • Carney K, Dhalla S, Aytaman A, Tenner CT, Francois F. Association of tattooing and hepatitis C virus infection: A multicenter case-control study. Hepatology. 2013 Jan 12. doi: 10.1002/hep.26245. [Epub ahead of print] Also see 1 Feb. below
• Klein HG. Should blood be an essential medicine? N Engl J Med. 2013 Jan 17;368(3):199-201. | ISBT item: Should blood be an essential medicine?
• Drug Lance Armstrong used can help eliminate need for blood during surgery (23 Jan. 2013) Nice promo for Canada's blood conservation programs (& EPO)
• Molecular diagnostics - 'hot picks' from MLO | Also see blog, Do you believe in 'omics'?
• UK BTS evaluates clinical safety of prion filtration using P-Capt™ (9 Jan. 2013)
  • Elebute MO, Choo L, Mora A, Macrury C, Llewelyn C, Purohit S, Hicks V, Casey C, Malfroy M, Deary A, Reed T, Meredith S, Manson L, Williamson LM. Transfusion of prion-filtered red cells does not increase the rate of alloimmunization or transfusion reactions in patients: results of the UK trial of prion-filtered versus standard red cells in surgical patients (PRISM A). Br J Haematol. 2013 Jan 7. [Epub ahead of print]
• Wall DP, Tonellato PJ. Genomics-informed pathology. The Scientist, 2013 Jan 1. (Also see It's time to bet on genomics)
• Jehovah’s Witnesses quietly soften position on blood transfusions (20 Dec. 2012)
• Fibrinogen could bypass intraoperative transfusion needs (2 Jan. 2013)
• Beagle sniffs out C. difficile infection (13 Dec. 2012) No limits to the canine snozzle?
• Did nurse's delay in ordering blood result in death & multi million $ award? University Med. Ctr. v. Beglin, 2009-SC-000289-DG, 2009-SC-00839-S.W.3d-(11/1/2011)-KY. Nurs Law Regan Rep 2012 Jan;52(8):1.
  • Court of Appeals Verdict
  • Fascinating case of interest to physicians, nurses, medical technologists about delay in ordering blood, inc. physician opting to wait for crossmatched units. Legal tidbits:
  • “Degree of reprehensibility of the defendant’s misconduct,” is the “most important indicium of the reasonableness of a punitive damages award”
  • US Supreme Court set 5 factors for determining reprehensibility of a defendant’s misconduct (Read verdict to discover them)
• Leukemia patients remain in remission more than 2 years after receiving genetically engineered T cell therapy (UPenn news release, 9 Dec. 2012)
  • Related news item (11 Dec. 2012)
• Susan L. Stramer, PhD, elected President of AABB at 2012 Annual Meeting | Canada's CBS CEO Graham Sher, MD, PhD is president-elect
• AABB Standards:
  • Summary of significant changes to the Standards for Blood Banks and Transfusion Services, 28th ed. (Effective 1 Nov. 2012)
• 2012 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine: John Gurdon (UK) and Shinya Yamanaka (Japan)'For the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent': Nobel citation
• AABB 2012 annual meeting embraces social media: Blog | Twitter [Also see my Sept. blog: I heard it through the grapevine (Musings on transfusion professionals & Twitter)]
• Blood Medicine, whistle blower's exposé of drug industry marketing practices, out in paperback (5 Oct. 2012)
  • Author Q & A (27 Sept. 2012)
• Fresh blood not better for transfusions for premature infants, Canadian clinical trial shows (8 Oct. 2012) (And the beat goes on...)
  • Fergusson DA, et al. Effect of fresh red blood cell transfusions on clinical outcomes in premature, very low-birth-weight infants. JAMA 2012 (Pub. online 8 Oct. 2012)
• 'Junk DNA' has a purpose, new map of human genome reveals (7 Sept. 2012)
• UCLA scientists discover 'missing link' between blood ttem cells, immune system (5 Sept. 2012)
  • Kohn LA, Hao QL, Sasidharan R, Parekh C, Ge S, Zhu Y, Mikkola HK, Crooks GM. Lymphoid priming in human bone marrow begins before expression of CD10 with upregulation of L-selectin. Nat Immunol. 2012 Sep 2. [Epub ahead of print]
• 85% of researchers promoting off-label drug use inadequately disclose financial conflicts of interest (7 Aug. 2012)
  • Kesselheim A, Wang B, Studdert DM, Avorn J. Conflict of interest reporting by authors involved in promotion of off-label drug use: an analysis of journal disclosures. PLoS Med 2012;9(8): e1001280.
• Olympic drug sample stored with sandwiches & soda pop (12 Aug. 2012)
• ISBT goes high tech (Take a peek to see what's possible)
  • Webcasts of World Congress in Cancun
  • Mobile app for Cancun congress
• Richard Smith, ex- BMJ editor, on receiving end (31 July 2012)
  • 2 people docs should never upset: ward nurses & journal editors
• Novel blood plasma treatment lures athletes to Germany (10 July 2012) Background:
  • Regenokine: The unproven treatment professional athletes fly to Germany for (24 April 2012)
  • Regenokine^® Program
• Joffe AR, et al. Donation after cardiocirculatory death: a call for a moratorium pending full public disclosure and fully informed consent. Philos Ethics Humanit Med 2011, 6:17.
• It's all in the blood (Mourant among 1st to appreciate use of blood groups as population genetic markers & apply them to Jews) (2 July 2012)
• Development of synthetic platelets (1 June 2012)
  • Doshi N, Orje JN, Molins B, Smith JW, Mitragorti S, Ruggeri ZM. Platelet mimetic particles for targeting thrombi in flowing blood. Adv Mater 2012 May 29. [Epub ahead of print]
• Dark Daily: Growth in real & “virtual” biobanks may be $ opportunity for clin path labs (~$7.9 billion industry) (21 May 2012)
• Mansi BA, Clark J, David FS, Gesell TM, Glasser S, Gonzalez J,et al. Ten recommendations for closing the credibility gap in reporting industry-sponsored clinical research: a joint journal and pharmaceutical industry perspective. Mayo Clin Proc. 2012 May;87(5):424-9. (full free text)
• Can doctors blog about you? Friend you? (7 May 2012)
• Why nurses need more authority (7 May 2012)
• Italian scientists say they have found oldest human blood (2 May 2012) 5,300 year old 'Otzi' is group O
• Africa's road to blood ruin (CMAJ 15 Mar. 2012)
• 'It has always been my dream to nurse in a developing country...' Experiences in Siem Reap Provincial Hospital, Cambodia (8 Mar. 2012, NursingTimes.net)
• Patrick Mollison, a giant of transfusion medicine, dead at 97
• Platelet Rich Plasma mania?
  • Vancouver, Canada: Cosmetic uses emerge for PRP (Press release, 15 Feb. 2012)
  • Conference abstract (American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's Specialty Day):  PRP helps heal elbow injuries (12 Feb. 2012,  San Francisco)
  • Florida, USA: PRP increasing in popularity (9 Feb. 2012)
  • Background: Is PRP an effective healing therapy? / PRP - What's behind the hype?
• Blast from the past: All about HIV testing: the business of tracking deadly viruses (1992)
• Future of stem cell therapy (12 Jan. 2012)
• Breakthrough with gene therapy for hemophilia B (10 Dec. 2011)
  • Gene therapy for hemophilia B has early success in  small study (University College, London) (inc. nice video)

Canada

• Canadian news

International

Australia

• CSL extracts plasma from USA donors and that is the core of its global business (21 Mar. 2013) | US plasma collection has helped many impoverished Americans and students, given that there are limited unemployment benefits and education is expensive. (Really?)
• Retrial for physician charged with manslaughter: wrong diagnosis led to surgery instead of transfusions for rectal bleeding (8 Feb. 2013) | Background
• 33 wk old fetus gets IVT to treat parvovirus transmitted from Mom (28 Dec. 2012)
• Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia launches fun social media campaign to encourage viewers to imagine a "World Without Pathologists" (28 Nov. 2012) | World without Pathologists (website)
• 30 years of HIV - Rates increase amid new hope for a cure (1 Dec. 2012) (HIV increased 8% last year, 50% over past decade)
• Safer transfusions hope for babies found by University of Adelaide researchers (22 Nov. 2012) (2-yr trial of washed RBC)
• NBA: Blood Management Guidelines (October 2012 update)
• NBA: Patient Blood Management Guidelines: Module 3 Medical (inc. accompanying Quick Reference Guide and Technical Reports) (12 Sept. 2012)
• NBA: Patient Blood Management Guidelines (September 2012 progress update)
• Australian researchers' discovery could lead to blood test for vCJD (12 Sept. 2012)
• Red Cross sees red over blood claims (14 Aug. 2012) | Similar to Canada when CBS closed its component production & distribution centre in Saint John, NB?
• ARC activates National Blood Supply Contingency Plan when national computer system [Mak Progesa] crashes (8 July 2012) | Activated 6 July; deactivated 11 July
• NBA: Patient Blood Management Guidelines (August 2012 progress update)
• Australian Red Cross Blood Service relocates blood testing and processing from Adelaide to Melbourne(Cost savings cited. Affects 60 of 570 Blood Service employees in South Australia)
• Australia paid $31 million to import IVIg in 2010-11 (20 July 2012) ARC appeals for plasma donations offset ~15 fold increase since 2003-4.
• NBA: Patient blood management guidelines development - July 2012 update
• Bloom fading on 'Personally Controlled e-Health Record' (E-health fails again) (CMAJ, 12 June 2012)
• First case of babesiosis baffles scientists (29 May 2012)
• Robert (Bob) Dunstan, Head of the School of Biomedical Sciences, Curtin University, passed away 16 Dec. 2010. (My apologies for the late notice, but I corresponded with Bob periodically and he was a generous colleague whom I greatly admired.)
• National Blood Authority (NBA):
  • Module 4 – Critical Care (Available for comment 26 March – 18 May 2012)
  • Patient Blood Management Guidelines: Module 2 Perioperative & its Quick Reference Guide now available in hard copy
    • Order copies free of charge from NBA website (23 Mar. 2012)
  • Module 2 Perioperative (9 Mar. 2012)
    • 2nd of 6 modules focusing on evidence-based patient blood management
    • Includes Quick Reference Guide & Preoperative Haemoglobin Assessment and Optimisation template
  • Review of blood system concludes reforms are needed (9 Jan. 2012)
  • Direct link to Reports: Analysis of cost drivers and trends in the blood sector / Options to manage appropriate use of blood & blood products

Bulgaria

• Understaffed & underpaid blood centre staff decide to stay on (14 Nov. 2012)
• All 6 doctors and half of the nurses and lab staff quit blood transfusion center due to low salaries (19 Oct. 2012)

China / Hong Kong

• Dr. struck off for 8 mths for false claims about PRP for cosmetic surgery (3 Jan. 2013)
• Beauty parlor death rings alarm bells (12 Oct. 2012)
• Deadly bacteria found in beauty chain treatment (Women go into septic shock) (10 Oct. 2012)

Columbia

• Courts say clinics can't stop gays from donating blood (6 June 2012)

India

• 3 officials (Dr. and 2 lab technicians) suspended in Assam HIV+ transfusion case (17 June 2013)
• Criminal case to be brought after transfusion of HIV-infected blood to 4 patients in Assam (15 June 2013)
• Nurse suspended after patient's death from wrong transfusion (11 May 2013)
• World Thalassemia Day: More couples going for pre-marital test (8 May 2013)
• Stem cell industry (12 Feb. 2013) | Fearing unscrupulous use, stakeholders race to regulate applications
• Rare Bombay blood group found after patient suffers transfusion reaction to group O blood (2 Sept. 2012)
• Blood racket busted, lab technician arrested (4 Sept. 2012)
• Great Indian blood crisis (1 Sept. 2012) Interesting read: Only 0.8% donate & multiple other challenges exist
• Who robbed the blood bank? (6 May 2012)
• Less than 1% of women eligible to donate blood (4 May 2012)
  • "In many lower middle-class families, women serve best part of their food for male members of the family and often feed themselves with leftover food...."

Ireland

• ISBT has plan in place in case terror strikes (15 June 2013)
• ISBT says bood imports required in the event of terror attack (12 June 2013)
• Blood donors learned of HIV or HCV infections after donating (29 Apr. 2013)
• Donor diagnosed with glomerulonephritis after alerted by ISBT to see physician (29 Apr. 2013)
• Major QA deficiencies cited at IBTS (23 April 2013) | Common to all blood suppliers but gotta love 'yellow sticky notes'
• IBTS still refuses to accept donations from gay men as 'important safety measure' (4 Mar. 2013)
• IBTS postpones full implementation of EU Blood Directive (14 Nov. 2012) Hb standard led to significant increase in deferrals
• Outgoing chair warns Health Minister that failure to fill ISBT board vacancies creates “unacceptable risk” (27 Nov. 2012)
• Free care to non-Hep C Anti-D women denied (23 Oct. 2012) Background: Many Irish women infected with HCV via RhIg
• IBTS’s permanent deferral for MSM activity unchanged despite pressure (6 Nov. 2012)
• IBTS faces financial challenges (19 Sept. 2012)
• ISBT employee pension fund insolvent, claims CEO (11 Sept. 2012)
• Blood donors & safety: IBTS Scientific Medical Director defends policy of permanently excluding MSM (25 Aug. 2012)
• Court dismisses donor law suit vs govt/ISBT over alleged failure to inform him of HCV+ test (20 July 2012) (ISBT apologized)

Korea

• 117 get HBV via transfusion due to delay in using NAT to screen donors (Hep B endemic in Korea)

Malta

• Conversation between politician and blood centre director on MSM policy - Scroll to ‘Don’t link blood transfusions to prejudices’ (2 Feb. 2013)

Oman

• High road accident rates lead to blood shortages (8 May, 2013) Road traffic deaths /100,000: Canada 6.8, UK 3.7, USA 11.4, Oman 30.4 [Source: WHO 2013 Global Status Report on Road Safety]

Russia

• Toddler contacts HIV from transfusion with quarantined unit (15 April 2013)
• Bikmukhametov DA, Anokhin VA, Vinogradova AN, Triner WR, McNutt LA. Bias in medicine: a survey of medical student attitudes towards HIV-positive and marginalized patients in Russia, 2010. J Int AIDS Soc. 2012 Sep 27; 15(2): 17372. (Russia has significant HIV epidemic soon to escalate)
• Blood donor ad by blood transfusion service Answers the question, "So why do we live?" (Cute promo - 1min 17 sec video)

Saudi Arabia

• KSA institutes new rules following HIV error (9 Mar. 2013)
  • In interim, director general, medical director, directors of laboratory & blood bank, BB technical supervisor sacked. BB Director & technical supervisor fined SR10,000 each (~$2,738 CDN)
  • HIV transfusion girl seeks $13m payout (5 Mar. 2013)
• Saudi Arabia outraged over child's HIV+ transfusion (20 Feb. 2013) | 7 health officials fired. Good discussion of KSA HIV attitudes
• Technician in HIV-tainted transfusion to be punished | Patient airlifted to Riyadh’s KFSHRC
• Dad accuses hospital of killing child with sickle cell anemia with extra blood transfusion, providing Dr. flight to Dubai (24 Dec. 2012)
• Shari'ah Medical Commission's protracted process forces expat to drop transfusion error case (6 Mar. 2012)
  • Serious call to deal with medical errors in Saudi hospitals (3 Jan. 2012) Quote: “Commissions usually consist of legal experts and doctors...."

Sweden

• Baby infected with HCV from transfusion (5 Oct. 2012) (Extremely rare testing failure as test has excellent sensitivity)

Switzerland

• Swiss Red Cross to send less blood to Greece after delays in payments (25 Feb. 2013)

Tanzania

• Donor blood sold corruptly (11 Mar. 2012)

Trinidad & Tobago

Turkey

• Two patients die after transfusion of HIV-infected blood provided by Turkish Red Crescent (9 Feb. 2012)

UAE

• No more needles if hospital gets approval for blood scan device to measure Hb (6 Feb. 2013)
• Case of SA doctor accused of manslaughter for not giving vital transfusion close to being dismissed (3 Jan. 2013)
• Doctor convicted of killing 3-yr old cancer patient by failing to transfuse platelets denies guilt at retrial (3 Oct. 2012)

UK

• UK 2011 SHOT Report - Summary | Full Report | Key recommendations feature 'Back to Basics'
• Scots scientists to trial synthetic human blood (30 May 2013)
• Simple stickers on blood sample requests may reduce bed-blocking (29 May 2013)
• 30-year old Durham 'Blood Group Serology' conference suspended
• vCJD rears up again
  • Blood transfusions 'could spark CJD deaths' (29 Apr. 2013)
  • Family of man who died from vCJD calls for reform of blood donations (29 Apr. 2013)
  • DOH response: Measures currently in place in the UK to reduce the potential risk of vCJD transmission via blood (29 Apr. 2013)
    • No evidence of any UK clinical cases of  vCJD linked to blood transfusion given after 1999
• HIV and hepatitis warning over illegal tattooists (27 Apr. 2013)
• Have your say on the future of blood transfusion communication and consent (23 April 2013) Great idea
• NHSBT says during blood transfusions, although rare, errors do happen, and most are due to mistaken identity (12 April 2013)
• Audit of NHS hospitals highlights errors in administering Rh immune globulin (13 Mar. 2013)
• Kent, Surrey & Sussex air ambulance service carries blood on its two helicopters (25 Feb. 2013)
• NHSBT partners with Christian churches to promote blood and organ donation (28 Jan. 2013) | Flesh and Blood
• NHS needs major IT update (16 Jan. 2013) But money scarce and still smarting from failure of national electronic patient record system
• Prion filtration tested for red blood cell transfusions (9 Jan. 2012)
• Nurses using twitter | Also see Twitter chats for nurses
• N. Ireland: Outrage over ticketing of blood transfusion van picking up donations (2 Nov. 2012)
• Widow of 1st man to die from transfusion-assoc. vCJD speaks out (Nice discussion of transfusion risks by Drs. Mike Murphy & Paula Bolton-Maggs, SHOT director)
• NHSBT faces strike, as flood exposes weakness in management plan to close testing site (27 Sept. 2012)
• Royal London Hospital leads worldwide trial of drug from outdated RBC (MP4OX) to aid patients with heavy blood loss (30 Sept. 2012)
• Blood transfusion service faces strike, as closing of Colindale blood testing centre in north London nears (4 Sept. 2012)
• Lancashire blood motorcycles get trackers (21 Aug. 2012)
• NHSBT Customer Service Annual Report (June 2012) Nice look at how UK blood supplier handles customer service
• UK unveils patient-centred electronic health strategy (CMAJ, 7 Aug. 2012)
• Wales: Nurses, pharmacists trained to take docs' place & order blood transfusion (2 Aug. 2012)
• SHOT's latest report now available
• Cheap drug 'cuts need for blood transfusions' & could save NHS £25 million/yr. (21 May 2012)
  • NHS Blood and Transplant said tranexamic acid study was interesting, but pointed out most blood was not used for people undergoing planned operations.
  • Ker K, Edwards P, Perel P, Shakur H, Roberts I. Effect of tranexamic acid on surgical bleeding: systematic review and cumulative meta-analysis. BMJ 2012;344:e3054 (Published 21 May 2012)
• Contaminated Blood (Support for Infected and Bereaved Persons) Bill [HL] 2012-13 (First reading, 16 May 2012)
• New WNV test for blood donors after international travel (NBSBT press release, 28 Mar. 2012)
  • Related news item
• Laboratories play crucial role in getting life-saving blood to patients (27 Mar. 2012) (nice blood bank promo)
• Plans to introduce opt-out organ donation supported by almost two-thirds of Welsh people (2 Mar. 2012)
• London's Air Ambulance first in UK to carry blood (5 Mar. 2012)
• Bristol Heart Institute awarded £297,000 to research improved blood transfusion methods (23 Feb. 2012)
• Plans to secretly test 30,000 NHS blood transfusion patients amid CJD fears escalate (Those with >80 blood transfusions 'most at risk') (5 Feb. 2012)
• Private company to run NHS general hospital for first time (29 Jan. 2012)
  • Background: Where lucre is still filthy
• Wales: Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board's hospitals reject ~ 7% of crossmatch samples (overall rejection rate <0.1%) (26 Jan. 2012)
• vCJD blood test being evaluated in UK and on samples from US ARC donors (13 Jan. 2012)
• Interview: Transfusion Practitioner for Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (16 Jan. 2012)
• 2012 special events may hit blood stocks(28 Dec. 2011)
• Govt. plans to share confidential patient records with researchers automatically unless patients opt out ( The Register, 6 Dec. 2011)
  • Political "collaboration" with drug companies (blog by Glasgow GP) (4 Dec. 2011)

USA

• Stanford Blood Bank settles 5-yr lawsuit with man who claims he developed Group B strep infection from donating blood (7 June 2013)
• Johns Hopkins develops new algorithm for MSBOS (22 May 2013) | Includes video
  • Frank SM, Rothschild JA, Masear CG, Rivers RJ, Merritt WT, Savage WJ, Ness PM. Optimizing preoperative blood ordering with data acquired from an anesthesia information management system. Anesthesiology. 2013 Jun;118(6):1286-97.
  • Full text paper
• Jehovah’s Witness patient gets FDA 'special compassionate care dispensation' to receive HBOC blood substitute, Hemopure (5 May 2013)
• FDA: Implementation of an Acceptable Abbreviated Donor History Questionnaire and Accompanying Materials for Use in Screening Frequent Donors of Blood and Blood Components. (Guidance for Industry, May 2013)
• “Potentially life-threatening” mistakes, inc. infections and mismatched blood transfusions, to be stripped from 'Hospital Compare' website (1 May 2013) | Example for Massachusetts General
• Hepatitis C epidemic in US gay men is decades old (10 Apr. 2013)
• Witt MD, Seaberg EC, Darilay A, Young S, Badri S, Rinaldo CR, et al. Incident hepatitis C virus infection in men who have sex with men: a prospective cohort analysis from 1984 to 2011. Clin Infect Dis. 2013 Mar 26. [Epub ahead of print]

• Lincoln, Illinois: Biotest plasma center expanding (15 Mr. 2013) | Plasma donations grew from 12.5 million (2006) to >23 million (2011). In Lincoln, Biotest pays $40 per donation & donors can donate 2x/week.
• Fort Wayne, Indiana: New commercial plasma center to open to meet increased demand for plasma-derivative therapies (4 Mar. 2013) Frequent donors can earn ~$200/mth
  • ARC believes paying donors runs risk of passing along contaminated blood and warns about emerging infections for which there are no tests.
• In-flight transfusions saving lives on battlefield (1 Feb. 2013) | Be sure to read comments of 'David' re-training nurses get in administering blood in US hospitals
• Also see 'General' above
• Virginia Blood Services sold to Pittsburgh's ITxM (~3 yrs ago "board began looking into ways to better compete") (14 Dec. 2012)
• Homicide rates fall despite soaring gun violence (8 Dec. 2012) Interesting analysis of advances leading to better survival, inc. transfusion practices
• TM RFID Consortium finds RFID improves efficiency of blood supply chain, seeks FDA 510(k) clearance (20 Nov. 2012)
• AABB Comments to FDA on the “Unique Device Identification System” (7 Nov. 2012)
• NIH awards $3.7 million contract to support clinical trials collaboration of a new blood screening test for Babesia
• PSBC blood drive at tattoo parlor highlights Washington State's new tattoo standard (9 Sept. 2012)
• Community Blood Centers of Florida receives scathing warning letter from FDA over unsafe practices (13 Aug. 2012)
  • FDA warning letter (Some citations are 'beauts')
• Cutting the risk of contaminated platelets (31 July 2012)
  • 150 US hospitals adopt test to be used within 24 hrs of transfusion | PGD Test (Verax Biomedical)
  • Test adds $25-$30 to average $540 cost of a unit of platelets
• FDA puts hold on phase III clinical trials of hemophilia B drug, IB1001 (10 July 2012) (Also see Understanding clinical trials)
• FDA puts hold on phase III clinical trials of hemophilia B drug, IB1001 (10 July 2012) (Also see Understanding clinical trials)
• Americord CEO says kickbacks, deception common by 3 competitor cord blood banks (9 July 2012)
• First case of alleged stem-cell fraud enters US courts (10 July 2012)
• OBI offers freebies to blood donors (24 May 2012)
  • Includes free lunch, 2 tickets to Oklahoma City Zoo and T-shirt
• Appellate Court upholds $4.6 million judgment (24 May 2012))
  • Case centred on “medical malpractice involving a negligent failure to maintain adequate blood stock, procure emergency blood in a timely manner, and have blood available to treat an obstetrical emergency.”
  • Unpublished court opinion (May 21, 2012)
• ASTB: 'Donor Risk Assessment Interview' Form (7 May 2012)
• FDA's BPAC unanimously approves Orasure In-Home HIV Test (15 May 2012)
  • Takes ~2 mths post-exposure to produce reliable test results
  • Sensitivity = 93.0% (95% CI: 86.6-96.9%) As many as 13/100 may be false negative
  • Panel member says that benefits outweigh risks if test identifies some of the 1/4 million Americans who are unknowingly HIV-pos
• Blood Products Advisory Committee meeting (15-16 May 2012) Topics:
  • Evaluation of potential new plasma products manufactured following storage at RT for up to 24 hrs
  • OraQuick^® In-Home HIV Test
• Alabama man files lawsuit over HIV infection following 2010 transfusion for heart surgery (15 May 2012)
• Mom requires more than 540 units of blood products (~35 gallons) during delivery (11 April 2012)
• Organ donor's surgery death sparks questions (8 Apr. 2012)
• Blood business gets more cutthroat: HCA & its 5 local hospitals drop Virginia Blood Services for ARC (22 Mar. 2012)
• HHS: Request for Information (RFI) on Design of a Pilot Operational Study To Assess Alternative Blood Donor Deferral Criteria for Men Who Have Had Sex With Other Men (MSM) (13 Mar. 2012)
  • NIH asks for comment on blood donor policy for men who have sex with men (23 Feb. 2012)
• ARC and Dell launch first-of-its-kind social media Digital Operations Center for emergencies (7 Mar. 2012)
• Halpern v. Wake Forest Univ. Health (28 Feb. 2012) (Fascinating case: Med student diagnosed with 'Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder' dismissed from medical school for unprofessional conduct. He sued, lost, & appealed, again losing.)
• ARC fined $9.6 million for unsafe blood collection (17 Jan. 2012)
  • FDA Adverse determination letter (13 Jan. 2012)
• Jones BA, Darcy T, Souers RJ, Meier FA.