(P-BB-11) Analysis of Donor Moderate and Severe Vasovagal Reactions During Donation on the Alyx Collection Device

Background/Case Studies: Four affiliated community blood centers in the Midwest collaborated to build a donor incident program that includes reactions and injuries. The process follows the case from onset through follow up and case closure. The standard reporting form used by BCx Web Envision is utilized. Only one of the four affiliates had operationalized the fluid return feature on the Alyx collection device. When the staff observe that a donor begins looking/feeling like they are getting lightheaded, etc. (vasovagal symptoms), they quickly pause the machine and begin fluid return. The procedure is continued once the donor is feeling better and if agrees to complete the donation.

Study

Design/Methods: Data was collected by searching the Web Envision incident reporting website and querying the Blood Establishment Computer Software (BECS). The number of moderate (loss of consciousness < 60 seconds) and severe (loss of consciousness repeatedly or > 60 seconds) vasovagal reactions linked to Alyx collections and occurring in each state was counted. The reaction occurrence was calculated against the number of Alyx collections during that period.
NOTE: due to BECS implementations in two of the centers, an entire year of data could not be used as noted in Table 1.

Results/Findings: In the three centers not using fluid return upon onset of vasovagal symptoms, the moderate/severe reaction rate was concordant within an approximate 0.1 percentage. In the center that utilized the Alyx fluid return feature there were no moderate or severe vasovagal reactions.

Conclusions: Evaluation of reported vasovagal reactions across four affiliate centers showed an absence of moderate to severe vasovagal reactions in the one affiliate utilizing the fluid return feature on the Alyx device, with the remaining three affiliates with similar reaction rates. These numbers highlight the potential benefit of fluid return during Alyx collections on mitigating moderate/severe vasovagal reactions.
This data does not represent mild vasovagal reactions, and a full 12-month time period of data was not available at two of the affiliates. However, the staff at the affiliate where Alyx fluid return is utilized, associate the pause during collection and fluid return with mitigating the progression of vasovagal symptoms. In addition to being a donor safety technique, this additionally prevents potential loss of product if they had to discontinue the procedure due to donor safety. The fluid return functionality is being implemented as standard practice in the other 3 centers.

Importance of research: Taking advantage of ways to optimize donor safety allows blood centers to experience fewer losses related to donor safety and donor loss. If adverse donor experience can be mitigated, donors will likely continue to support the blood industry mission of saving lives by continuing to donate over the long term.