Ashok Yadav, et al. Status of component therapy 1229 International Journal of Medical Science and Public Health | 2014 | Vol 3 | Issue 10 COMPONENT THERAPY – STILL IN ITS INFANCY: EIGHT YEAR EXPERIENCE AT A TERTIARY HOSPITAL IN INDORE Ashok Yadav, CV Kulkarni, NP Tiwari Department of Pathology, MGM Medical College and MY Hospital, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India Correspondence to: NP Tiwari (narmadapdtiwari@gmail.com) DOI: 10.5455/ijmsph.2014.030720141 Received Date: 13.05.2014 Accepted Date: 03.07.2014 ABSTRACT Background: The appropriate use of blood and blood components remains a formidable challenge faced by clinicians particularly in a developing country like India. The inadequate supply of safe blood implies that measures aimed at ensuring judicious use of the available supply should be continually identified and explored. Aims & Objectives: To study the indications and other factors related to component therapy. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was conducted to evaluate all blood and blood component transfusions over a period of nine year, from 2003 to 2010. Results: A total of 100071 transfusion episodes were reviewed and analyzed. The commonest indication for use of blood/blood component was severe anaemia. Conclusion: Enhanced capacity for component preparation, regular auditing of transfusion practices as well as improved communication between the clinicians and laboratory physicians will lead to more judicious use of blood component therapy. Key Words: Clinical Audit; Blood Components; Inappropriate Transfusion Introduction Blood transfusion therapy has evolved remarkably over the years since its introduction into clinical practice. It has also become an indispensable life saving measure in patient care. The use of blood and blood components in clinical practice has, nonetheless, continued to face challenges demanding sustained efforts aimed at improvement in its use. [1] Prominent among such challenges is the issue of transfusion transmitted diseases as well as the unavailability of a reliable safe donor pool particularly in developing nations. The goal of modern transfusion therapy is to provide appropriate replacement therapy with blood components (red cells, platelets, fresh frozen plasma, cryo-precipitate etc.) as opposed to the whole blood for patients with specific haematological deficiencies. [2] Blood has been a scarce ‘commodity’ ever since, and because of that, many lives are lost which could have been saved. The main reason is that no artificial alternative is available till date. The only logical solution to this dilemma, at present, appears to use one unit of blood for more than one patient – Component Therapy. It is just like using a specific drug for a specific malady instead of a combination – in fact “Tailor Made” use of blood. This concept came to Madhya Pradesh in 2002 and gained momentum in 2003. Materials and Methods In the state of the art blood bank of M.Y. Hospital, Indore (MYH), components are being supplied to the patients as per their specific need. The data has been retrieved from the records of the blood bank. Results A total of 100,071 transfusion episodes were reviewed and analysed. The distribution of collection of blood year wise (table 1), Blood component (table 2), component status (Madhya Pradesh vs. MYH) (table 3), individual components (table 4) were noted. Table-1: Whole blood year wise Year Units of whole blood 2003 10423 2004 11291 2005 11542 2006 12088 2007 12145 2008 13052 2009 14226 2010 15304 Table-2: Component year wise Year Component 2003 210 2004 1133 2005 950 2006 824 2007 1587 2008 2166 2009 6607 2010 6725 RESEARCH ARTICLE