imputability in blood transfusion

Q: What is imputability in blood transfusion?

Answer: Imputability is a term used in Transfusion-transmitted infection (TTI) and refers to the confidence that the infection came from the transfusion. It is considered a serious matter and so comes with various conditions/criteria:

• evidence of the pathogen in the transfused component
• in the donor at the time of donation
• in another component from the same donor
• in another recipient of a component from the same donor
• there must not be any other exposure of the recipient to the pathogen
• the recipient must not have been infected with the pathogen before receiving the transfusion
• there must be evidence that the specific bacterial organism in the component is the same as the organism in the recipient (by deoxyribonucleic acid [DNA] testing or extended phenotypic comparison)

#hematology

#transfusion

#ID

References:

1. Evan M Bloch, MD - Transfusion-transmitted bacterial infection :: © 2022 UpToDate, Inc.

2. Politis C, Wiersum-Osselton J, Richardson C, Grouzi E, Sandid I, Marano G, Goto N, Condeço J, Boudjedir K, Asariotou M, Politi L, Land K. Adverse reactions following transfusion of blood components, with a focus on some rare reactions: Reports to the International Haemovigilance Network Database (ISTARE) in 2012-2016. Transfus Clin Biol. 2022 Aug;29(3):243-249. doi: 10.1016/j.tracli.2022.03.005. Epub 2022 Apr 26. PMID: 35476961.

3. Jain A, Kaur R. Hemovigilance and blood safety. Asian J Transfus Sci. 2012 Jul;6(2):137-8. doi: 10.4103/0973-6247.98911. PMID: 22988376; PMCID: PMC3439750.