Blood transfusion hemosiderosis

Hemosiderosis is a term used to imply iron overload without associated tissue injury. It occurs locally in sites of bleeding or inflammation, and may be widespread in persons who have been given large amounts of iron, either as iron medication or as blood transfusions. 

Hemosiderosis is a form of siderosis in which the iron deposits result from hemoglobin breakdown. Hemosiderosis may be focal (a consequence of hemorrhage) or generalized, resulting from a reduced life span of the red cell (repeated blood transfusion, hemolytic anemia, etc.). Hemochromatosis is characterized by cirrhosis, diabetes, and skin pigmentation and probably results from some molecular alteration of iron metabolism. Hemochromatosis will be described in more detail after a discussion of the iron pigments in tissues. 

Adverse events related to transfusion of blood components have been reported, including febrile non-hemolytic transfusion reactions, mild febrile reactions, acute and delayed hemolytic transfusion reactions, transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALl), anaphylactic and other allergic reactions, graft-versus-host disease (GvHD), transfusion-associated circulatory overload (TACO), viral infections, post-transfusion bacteremia, transfusion-associated sepsis (TAS), hemosiderosis, post-transfusion purpura, and new allo-antibody formation [18 , 19 ]. Whole blood, erythrocytes, leukocytes, platelets, and plasma for transfusion (fresh frozen plasma, FFP) are involved. Quite a number of these adverse effects, such as TRALl, TACO, TAS, and allergic/anaphylactic reactions can be difficult to evaluate. 

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