Transfusion-related acute lung injury: A dangerous and underdiagnosed noncardiogenic pulmonary edema

Abstract

Transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) is one of the leading causes of death associated
with transfusion of blood and blood components. The understanding of the etiology and
pathophysiology of this syndrome has much improved during the last decades, nevertheless
numerous issues are still unresolved and symptomatic treatment remains the cornerstone of
medical management. Consequently more attention is directed at primary as well as secondary
prevention. The awareness of the problem within the medical society is still unsatisfactory
which results in a high number of unrecognized cases or of inaccurate diagnoses one of which
is cardiogenic pulmonary edema. The aim of this review is to make the TRALI syndrome more
familiar to clinicians and to emphasize how signifi cant proper medical management is both for
the patients presenting TRALI symptoms as well as for future recipients of blood components.