Acute pain reactions are characterized by intense body pain in the chest or flank when the patient is transfused. These reactions are rare and are not well understood.
Hypotension is a symptom associated with an acute hemolytic reaction or the transfusion of a bacterially contaminated unit. Hypotension can also occur as a reaction to cytokines produced during the metabolism of white blood cells in stored red cell and platelet components. This type of reaction can be reduced by using prestorage leukocyte-reduced components.