LAUSR

A 36-year-old woman with relapsed leukemia and severe neutropenia was seen in an outpatient clinic for routine followup and transfusion. She was premedicated with acetaminophen and diphenhydramine and received one single-donor platelet (PLT) unit followed by a red blood cell (RBC) unit without incident. A second RBC unit was started approximately 2 hours after the first RBC unit (5 hr after the PLT unit) and within minutes the patient developed rigors. The transfusion was stopped, and rigors resolved with meperidine and diphenhydramine. She had no other symptoms except tachycardia. Her temperature was 37.38C during the reaction—essentially unchanged from her pretransfusion temperature of 37.68C.