I understand that an elderly patient suffering from CHF would need to receive blood at a slow rate to prevent?

Question

what happens if to much is given to soon and overload does occure? what is the treatment and what are the chances of survival?

Answer 1

People with CHF do require to get blood at a slower rate, but if the doctor knows they have CHF, they usually write an order to give Lasix after so many bags of blood.
So if patient were to get 4 units (bags) of blood the doctor would write to give the blood and then give 40mg of Lasix after the second unit of blood.

Answer 2

Usually we don't run blood at a very fast rate no matter what, even for patients with no cardiac history. Because the faster we run the blood the likely for reaction also. People with CHF who get blood transfusion don't usually have problems unless the CHF is really bad. If reactions do occur like shortness of breath, decrease satuation, lasix will help. And like the others said doctors usually order to give lasix after 1-2 units of blood to prevent.

Answer 3

CHF means the heart just is not very efficient at pumping fluids around the body so fluids back up getting into the heart. Fluids need to be administered slowly so the heart has time to work at getting the increased load moved along. If given too fast the CHF can worsen (most likely difficulty breathing would be first sign) and the person would need diuretics (lasix) to pee out extra fluid, oxygen to help breathing and open up blood vessels, nitroglycerine to also dilate blood vessels. Very rapid, overwhelming CHF could be fatal--it depends on how much fluid & how weak the heart is.

Answer 4

Any pt sufferring from CHF would rather need packed cells transfusion, not whole blood as the water content of whole blood would create problems for the pt. It is not a question of fast or slow infusion because in many good centers a CCF pt is always monitored for signs of fluid overload whenever he/she receives it. Setting the speed of transfusion is the decision of the physician and should not be interfered with.

Answer 5

Elderly people have problems with congestive heart failure and the extra blood during a transfusion puts extra work on the heart and causes them to slip in to congestive heart failure. The blood must be given slowly over 4 hours each bag and usually the MD wants the pt to recieve lasix between each unit given.
The treatment for congestive heart failure is lasix.

Answer 6

limbs swell,lungs fill w fluid,,,,,,,,slo drip r lasix