Forty-Third Annual Symposium: Thursday, September 19, 2024
Description: This program is designed to provide attendees with practical information about recent developments, current practices, controversies and laboratory management issues relative to transfusion medicine.
Who Should Attend: This program will be of interest to all healthcare providers who participate in the collection, production, transfusion and monitoring of blood products.
Learning Objectives:
Upon the completion of this activity, participants should be able to:
- Summarize the clinical characteristics of sickle cell disease and explore advances in potentially curative therapies.
- Assess management of weak D types 1, 2,3, 4.0 and 4.1 as RhD-positive for transfusion and pregnancy.
- Identify the role of extracorporeal photopheresis in management of patients with GvHD and potential obstacles in sustaining this treatment in patients with bleeding complications.
- Evaluate how members of the healthcare team can identify a potentially fatal transfusion reaction in patients who have undiagnosed alpha-gal syndrome.
- Explain the barriers of recruiting and maintaining a diverse donor pool in the backdrop of an aging donor base.
- Explain potential causes of inability to identify antibody reactivity and evaluate the need for a process change for their laboratory to optimize transfusion outcomes when these cases present; appraising and discussing alternatives with physicians for a patient with an antibody of undetermined specificity.
- Evaluate new management strategies in treating patients with platelet refractoriness due to HLA-alloimmunization.
Level of Instruction: Intermediate to Advanced
This program has a pending application for continuing education credits.