Evaluation of Blood Transfusion Complications in Patients Undergoing Surgery

Introduction: Patients undergoing surgery may need transfusion of blood products for a variety of reasons. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the incidence of blood transfusion complications in patients undergoing surgery. Methods: The present study was performed as a cross-sectional study in 2020 at Shohadaye Tajrish Hospital in Tehran, Iran. A total of 1132 patients who had complications during surgery upon transfusion of blood and blood products from 2015 to 2020 were included in the census. To collect information, a checklist, including patients’ information, the type of product, and types of complications was used. SPSS software version 21 was used for data analysis. Results: In this study, 99.7% of the complications were acute, and in 91.1% of the cases, the severity of complications was mild. Of the confirmed complications, 46.4% were allergic reactions, and 43.8% were reported as non-hemolytic febrile reactions. A total of 91.1% of patients completely recovered after the onset of the complication, 6.2% had a partial disability, 0.4% had severe disability, and 0.3% died. Conclusion: The results showed that most patients had acute complications in terms of the type of complication and mild in terms of the severity, thus a completely regular program is recommended to control side effects related to blood and blood products transfusion.