Leukoreduction in Transplant Patients

Benefits of Leukoreduction

Leukoreduction significantly decreases the incidence of alloantibody-mediated refractoriness to platelet transfusion in patients receiving chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation 1, 3
Universal prestorage leukoreduction has been shown to reduce rates of alloimmune refractoriness from 14% to 4% in patients receiving chemotherapy for acute leukemia or stem cell transplantation 3
Additional benefits include substantial reduction in transfusion reactions and prevention of cytomegalovirus transmission 1, 2

The American Society of Clinical Oncology provides a strong recommendation (evidence quality: high) for the use of leukoreduced blood products in transplant patients 5
Leukoreduced blood products are strongly recommended for all allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients 5, 6
Patients undergoing transplantation are at particularly high risk for alloimmunization and should receive leukoreduced products from the time of diagnosis 2
For autologous transplant recipients, leukoreduced products are also recommended to reduce transfusion reactions and prevent HLA alloimmunization 3

Leukoreduction should be implemented from the beginning of treatment for transplant patients 2
Both platelet and red blood cell products should be leukoreduced for optimal prevention of alloimmunization 2
For patients requiring long-term transfusion support, as is common with transplant recipients, the benefits of leukoreduction are particularly important 7