Pediatric blood banking

Blood component transfusion is an integral part of the treatment of many pediatric patients cared for by general pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists including those in critical care, anesthesiology, and surgery. While component-based therapy the remains the preferred method of transfusion today, there has recently been renewed interest in the use of whole blood especially in the trauma and surgical settings. This chapter will discuss the general aspects of blood product collection, processing, and testing; blood component preparation, modifications, and pediatric-based dosing; and lastly pretransfusion testing for the pediatric surgical patient.