World Brain Death Project: Implications for Canadian practice Transplantation Organs and Tissues Thursday, November 05, 2020 Ross FitzGerald There are inconsistencies in criteria and practice of brain death (death by neurologic criteria) both internationally and within countries. The World Brain Death Project was created to formulate recommendations about the determination of brain death based on extensive reviews of the literature and expert opinion of a large multi-disciplinary, international panel, including representation from intensive care (adult…

Continue reading

Treat the bleed: Practical guidance for physicians developed by leaders in transfusion medicine Transfusion Blood Thursday, November 05, 2020 Tricia Abe Thanks to a collaboration among Canada’s leading experts in transfusion medicine, front-line physicians can access Treat the Bleed, a new website that supports clinical decision making in the management of bleeding. The content is presented in a practical and user-friendly format: top questions on three topics (warfarin reversal, direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs), and massive…

Continue reading

Challenges 2020 - Lay Science Writing Competition now open! Transplantation Organs and Tissues Plasma Stem Cells Transfusion Blood Monday, October 26, 2020 Dr. Geraldine Walsh The 2020 Canadian Blood Services’ Lay Science Writing Competition has launched and is open for submissions until Dec. 15, 2020.   This year, we’re asking trainees to test their plain writing skills and use clear language to send submissions under the theme “Challenges 2020”. The theme is open to interpretation, but submissions…

Continue reading

Improving transfusion practice through serology education Plasma Transfusion Blood Thursday, October 22, 2020 Tricia Abe Understanding blood compatibility is critical to ensuring safe transfusions, but in some cases, identifying compatible blood types for a patient can be challenging. That’s because blood can be typed according to 38 different blood group systems and hundreds of different blood cell antigens within these systems—not just the familiar ABO and Rh types—and knowing if a patient has antibodies to…

Continue reading

Tracking the prevalence of COVID-19 at top speed Plasma Transfusion Blood Tuesday, October 20, 2020 Catherine Lewis It was a Friday night in June when Craig Jenkins got the urgent call from Dr. Chantale Pambrun, director of Canadian Blood Services’ Centre for Innovation. “She asked, ‘What’s the likelihood we can test 10,000 samples in the first week?’” remembers Jenkins, senior manager of product and process development at the Centre for Innovation. The next morning, he,…

Continue reading

Norman Bethune Symposium 2020 Plasma Transfusion Blood Thursday, October 08, 2020 Canadian Blood Services trainees Postponed in April 2020, the Centre for Blood Research’s annual Norman Bethune Symposium moved to an online format and was held on Sept. 9, 2020. We heard from some Canadian Blood Services research trainees about the symposium and their experiences presenting their work in the “new normal” virtual format, which included a research showcase via Twitter. Olga Mykhailova (postdoctoral fellow,…

Continue reading

Machine learning opens new frontiers in red blood cell research Transfusion Blood Tuesday, September 29, 2020 Dr. Geraldine Walsh A recent research paper points towards machine learning as a solution to improve how experts assess the shape of red blood cells, or red blood cell morphology. With the potential to eliminate subjectivity and standardize testing, this approach could herald a new era in red blood cell morphology assessment, with potentially big implications for transfusion medicine…

Continue reading

Dr. Heyu Ni inducted as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences Plasma Transfusion Blood Thursday, September 24, 2020 Dr. Geraldine Walsh The Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) was established in 2004 and brings together Canada’s top-ranked health and biomedical scientists and scholars to make a positive impact on the urgent health concerns of Canadians. Its Fellows are individuals of great achievement within the academic health sciences in Canada, who serve the…

Continue reading

Transfusion Camp carries on: educating physicians about using blood wisely Plasma Transfusion Blood Tuesday, September 15, 2020 Guest Author By Dr. Yulia Lin and Casey Kapitany  Blood transfusion is one of the most commonly ordered procedures in hospitals. In Canada, more than 1 million red blood cell units are transfused every year, thanks to the generosity of blood donors. Optimizing the use of each precious, potentially life-saving unit of blood, in ways that maximize their…

Continue reading

Honouring Earl W. Davie (1927-2020) Plasma Transfusion Blood Thursday, September 10, 2020 Dr. Geraldine Walsh Earl W. Davie, Ph.D., professor emeritus of biochemistry at the University of Washington in Seattle, died in June 2020. Over the course of Dr. Davie’s long and distinguished career, he made many discoveries that advanced understanding of how blood clots and led to the development of treatments for many bleeding disorders. His seminal discovery, with Dr. Oscar Ratnoff, was the…

Continue reading