Blood transfusion: arguments for and against

Blood Transfusion

The Pros and Cons of Blood Transfusion

A blood transfusion poses both risks and benefits and, therefore, there are pros and cons to be weighed before opting for a blood transfusion. What a blood transfusion does is allow blood products to be replaced in a human body that has lost its own blood products through either illness or accident. The pro-of undergoing a blood transfusion when in danger of death is that it can prevent death and save life. The con of undergoing a blood transfusion is that there are numerous side effects that can accompany the procedure, such as the rejection of the immune system to foreign blood products and/or complications resulting from contamination. This paper will address by the pros and cons of blood transfusion and conclude with a recommendation and an alternative procedural option.

The pros of blood transfusion are that in life and death instances, it is a procedure that can make all the difference. Statistically speaking, there are relatively few cases of blood transfusions that have caused serious illness or death. Millions of transfusions transpire in the course of a single year, and can serve as a suitable solution for the varying medical conditions that require new blood product. It can correct temporary anemia and bone marrow failure. The degree of risk is low. On the contrary, the benefits of undergoing a blood transfusion to replace blood products lost through illness or accident far outweigh the risks. There are, of course, a number of factors that should be determined prior to a transfusion -- and these can readily be discussed with your physician.

The cons of blood transfusion are manifest in the risks that do exist even if they are low. These are what the physician will go over in detail with a patient considering a blood transfusion: first, the patient's immune system could reject the blood product of someone else's blood. This could result in acute hemolytic reaction, which is the mingling of two blood types that do not match. The red blood cells (as is usually the case) fail to work together and the onset of fever, high heart rate, dark urine, and bleeding are symptoms of a failed blood transfusion. However, the situation can be remedied if monitored and death is not likely to occur. A lesser risk is the febrile nonhemolytic transfusion, which is marked by a fever is not very serious.

The pros of blood transfusion obviously outweigh the cons -- for even if there is a bad transfusion, it can be corrected. Filtering out cellular blood products can eliminate a good size portion of white blood cells that cause the immune system to attack. Preventative measures are practiced routinely in hospitals across the nation. When it comes to saving life, blood transfusion is decent option. However, there are alternatives to blood transfusion: some drugs can spark bone marrow to produce more red and white blood cells, and problems of bleeding can be treated with coagulation factors.