TRANSFUSION-ASSOCIATED GRAFT-VERSUS-HOST DISEASE IN A PRESUMABLY IMMUNOCOMPETENT PATIENT AFTER TRANSFUSION OF STORED PACKED RED-CELLS

A 54-year-old woman developed transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease (TA-GVHD) after the transfusion of stored packed red cells obtained from unrelated donors. The patient was presumed to be immunocompetent. A diagnosis of TA-GVHD was made by clinical features and postmortem pathologic findings. Sex chromatin analysis of the patient's lymphocytes demonstrated chimerism. HLA typing of the blood donors revealed one to be HLA-homozygous for one of the patient's HLA haplotypes (A33-B44-Cblank). This case illustrates the risk in the general patient population of TA-GVHD after routine blood transfusion therapy. Workers should be aware of this possibility and should continue searching for an efficient way to prevent it.