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Should stricter physical exam criteria be used for qualifying prospective blood donors over 60 years of age?

An anesthesiologist/intensive care specialist (Ch. P. Henny, MD, PhD; attribution used with permission) at an academic medical center in Amsterdam reports that for the last two years his hospital has participated in a "hemovigilance" program in which a nurse or blood bank analyst routinely keeps track of all complications related to the donation or transfusion of blood products. Since this "hemovigilance" program was instituted, it has been noted that 'elderly' donors occasionally complain of angina pectorus symptoms. In this case "elderly" is defined as blood donors older than 60 years of age. Based on this observation, the inquiring physician ask if other blood bankers know the prevalence of angina pectorus complaints and/or myocardial infarction following donation of a single unit of about 500 ml of blood? As far as the inquiring physician knows, there are no recent published data on this subject. He wonders if the systematic collection of such data might lead to stricter physical examination criteria for the elderly donor.

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Ira A. Shulman, MD
CBBS e-Network Forum Editor & Moderator

W. Tait Stevens, MD
CBBS e-Network Forum Assistant Editor & Moderator
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Posted: Nov. 13, 2006

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