Thread: Ards

a friend of mine recently suffered ARDS as a complication of sepsis. he was admitted to the intensive care unit; after a few days he appeared to be responding to the antibiotics he was on. however, he was given 2 units of packed cells on one occasion and another two units a few days later. unfortunately, he took a turn for the worse and died. i was wandering if he should have been given blood transfusions at all, given that they can cause TRALI which in turn leads to ARDS, which he already was suffering from.

Please accept my condolences on the death of your friend. In my experience as an ICU nurse for many years, it is not uncommon or wrong to give blood transfusions to patients with a low hemoglobin (blood count) when they have ARDS. Physicians have to weigh the risks, benefits, and alternatives to any treatment they give to any patient. In your friend's case, they believed the transfusions would help him more than harm him. Sepsis is a very serious condition that can be fatal, and the same with ARDS. I think it is safe to believe your friend got the best care possible, tailored to his specific needs in his last days. Once again, I am very sorry for your loss.

Our dear friend E. Crum feels the treatment was the best your friend could get. However there are volumnes attesting to the fact that tranfusion free medicine even on ARDS patients and Septic patients with low hgb do better without blood transfusions. Please research this on this web site. It is possible he was given the wrong blood type or any other mistake. Transfusions of RBC's are basically volumne expanders for the reason that stored blood will not release oxygen for some time because of losing Nitric Oxcide. Our blood is not only a Oxygen delivery organ but also a trash truck that removes toxins from the body. When you receive a tranfusion, you are receiving the donors waste. This is not screened and can cause transfusion reaction resulting sometimes in death.