Venous thrombus formation after blood donation, a very rare occurrence?

The Associate Medical Director of a blood center in the Midwest reports that two whole blood donors recently notified their center that they were diagnosed with venous thrombosis a few days after blood donation. One of the donors, a female, says that an ultrasound was performed and showed that she had a clot in the vein. The donor has at least one known risk factor for thrombosis (use of oral contraceptives). The second donor, a male, suffered a pulmonary embolism and was hospitalized a few days after donation. No further history or physical examination results are available for the male donor. Both donors were prescribed warfarin. In both cases, the total time of donation was below 15 minutes. The medical director is curious to know if other blood donor centers have noted any cases of upper-extremity venous thrombosis related to blood donation.

The Editors point out that severe complications of blood donation are unusual ¹. We could find only one reported case in the literature of an upper-extremity deep venous thrombosis associated with blood donation ². On the other hand, deep vein thrombosis/thromboembolism (DVTE) occurs frequently in the general population (regardless of a history of recent blood donation) ³. Common risks for DVTE that might also be present in healthy individuals donating blood include obesity, smoking, oral contraceptives and long-distance air travel. In the cases presented, in all likelihood the thrombotic events reported are unrelated to blood donation.

1. Newman BH, Pichette S, Pichette D, Dzaka E. Adverse effects in blood donors after whole-blood donation: a study of 1000 blood donors interviewed 3 weeks after whole-blood donation. Transfusion 2003;43598-603.
2. Covin RB, Rich NL, Aysola A. Upper-extremity deep venous thrombosis complicating whole-blood donation. Transfusion 2004;44:586-590.
3. http://www.cdc.gov/features/thrombosis/

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