Transfusion question

If the unit was leukoreduced in the Blood Bank than you generally do not need to add a special filter. You can just use your standard Y site tubing with a 170 to 200 micron filter (brand dependent). If it was not that you will need to add the leukocyte reducing filter just prior to administering the blood. My understanding is that the majority of hospitals in the US have the leukocytes removed prior to releasing the blood. The Pall ones I used to use were very annoying to prime and my understanding is it a lot cheaper per unit to do the reducing up front.

There are excpetions to this though and you can actaully have them reducred prestorage and still add one at the beside to catch any that are left. This is usally seen with neonates and pediatic patients.

There are also microaggregate filters you can use to but these do not remove leukocytes and are used when multiple transfusions are needed. These are usually 40 micron filters. The 15 micron ones I have seen have been for Albumin and IVIG though many of these are not needed due to improvement in manufacturing processes. If the manufacturer supplies it then I would use it.