Complications related to blood replacement

SURVEY of the complications which attend the administration of blood or its fractions should attempt to identify the current areas which are of greatest relevance. Some of the hazards which were associated with the administration of blood a decade or two ago are rarely encountered today. Unfortunately, however, others remain as significant as in the past. Furthermore, although recent progress in medicine and surgery has expanded the role of the blood bank, some of these advances have magnified earlier transfusion hazards and others have generated a number of new problems. To place these changes in perspective, the earlier complications which are seldom encountered at present will be differentiated from those which remain. Finally, consideration will be given to the more recently described complications.