Canine Transfusion Therapy for Clinicians

Canine Transfusion Therapy for Clinicians

Since the early 80s the use of blood products in treating critically ill animals and supporting animals undergoing surgical and other procedures has tremendously increased. However, it should be noted that blood products are prepared from donor animals and represent a very limited resource not available in all situations, and as they are biologicals they bear the inherent risks to transmit infectious agents and cause other adverse transfusion reactions. Furthermore, the need for blood typing and crossmatching of patients and donors has now been recognized in order to assure safe and more efficacious transfusions in dogs and cats. Veterinary clinicians play a key role in providing safe and effective transfusion therapy.

Canine Blood Types - Dogs have more than a dozen blood group systems known as Dog Erythrocyte Antigens (DEA). Canine erythrocytes are either positive (+) or negative(-) for a blood type e.g. DEA 4+ or DEA 4-, and these blood types are thought be co-dominantly inherited. In the DEA 1 system, which is clinically considered most important, type DEA 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 have been described. However, recent studies indicate that dogs can be DEA 1- or weakly to strongly DEA 1+. Transfusion reactions against other blood types have rarely been described. They include reactions against the DEA 4, Dal (missing in some Dalmatians and Doberman Pinschers) and another common red cell antigen, and other clinically important blood types may be found in the future. There are no clinically important alloantibodies present prior to sensitization of a dog with a transfusion, and there is no sensitization by pregnancy. Based upon experimental and clinical data, dogs can become sensitized after receiving a mismatched transfusion, i.e. a blood unit positive for one or more blood types not found on the recipient’s red blood cells. […]