Frequently asked question: What are the effects of an exchange transfusion?

An exchange transfusion (erythrocytapheresis) is a special kind of blood transfusion. The advantage of an exchange transfusion is that while you receive red blood cells from the donor blood, your own HbSS red blood cells or other sickle cell red blood cells are filtered out of your blood. As a result, an exchange transfusion will provide relief for longer than a normal blood transfusion, the blood cell count in the bloodstream will not increase so much (meaning that the blood will be less thick), and there will be less iron overload. Still, the downsides are that creating a venous access may be difficult with young children and an exchange transfusion requires a larger volume of blood.

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Frequently asked question: What are the effects of an exchange transfusion?

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