Acute pain transfusion reaction (APTR)

A 34-year-old woman with a diagnosis of hemophagocytic lymphohistocytosis (HLH) received a double umbilical cord blood transplantation following a myeloablative chemotherapy preparative regimen with busulfan and cyclophosphamide. On day 25 post-transplantation, the patient required a platelet transfusion for a platelet count of 6,000 per ml (normal range = 150,000-450,000 per ml). The patient's blood type prior to the cord blood transplantation was B positive and, although both umbilical cord blood donors were O positive, the patient was still B positive per blood bank testing on that day. Patient experienced excruciating pain in all of her joints. Erythema in the face and neck. After 15 minutes, the pain subsided and vital signs returned to normal.