The recipient side of TRALI – the role of patient neutrophils

Abstract

Transfusion‐related acute lung injury (TRALI) is a serious and potentially fatal complication of blood transfusions. The fact that TRALI has been the top cause of transfusion‐related mortalities in the USA over the last 3 years (2004–06) [1] provides irrefutable evidence of the clinical significance of this syndrome. From this perspective, its importance in transfusion complications surpasses that of blood‐borne viruses and bacterial infections. Despite this, we still do not clearly understand the pathophysiology and pathogenesis of TRALI. This paper presents a TRALI patient or recipient perspective by discussing how thorough serological investigations can be utilized to provide evidence that patient neutrophils are the target cell and to identify the implicated donation/s when there are multiple associated donations.