Transfusion therapy for autoimmune hemolytic anemia.

Transfusion therapy for patients with autoimmune hemolytic anemia poses major problems to both the blood bank that is charged with providing blood and the clinician who must manage the patient successfully. Profitable discussions between the clinician and the blood bank are necessary before the patient can receive the most beneficial form of treatment. These problems are summarized in Table 1. Although not all of these problems apply to all patients, there are quite enough problems that are generated by every patient. The blood bank and the clinician are usually confronted by different aspects of problems posed by the same patient, but all aspects are related, and a meaningful dialogue between the blood bank and the clinician is absolutely essential to achieve optimal patient management.