Adverse Effects Of Blood Transfusion Practice Test

Distinguishing TACO from TRALI hinges on whether the lung edema is driven by volume overload or by a capillary leak from an inflammatory reaction, and on signs of how the heart is handling the fluid. In transfusion-associated circulatory overload, the edema is cardiogenic. The heart can’t handle the rapid or large volume of transfused blood, so you see signs of fluid overload: hypertension, elevated jugular venous pressure, crackles on lung exam, possibly peripheral edema, and a congested heart pattern on imaging. BNP is often elevated because the heart is stressed. The situation improves with stopping the transfusion, giving loop diuretics, and slowing or avoiding further volume load. In contrast, transfusion-related acute lung injury is noncardiogenic edema from a donor-derived immune reaction that makes capillaries leaky. It presents with acute hypoxemia and bilateral infiltrates on imaging, but without signs of circulatory overload or volume overload, and heart function is typically normal. The management is supportive care and stopping the transfusion; diuretics don’t address the underlying capillary leak. That’s why the first statement captures the correct distinction: TACO shows cardiovascular overload with hypertension and signs of fluid overload, whereas TRALI shows noncardiogenic edema with hypoxemia and no volume overload. The other options don’t fit because they misstate the relationship between the conditions, their triggers, or their typical clinical features.