2023 Volume 69 Issue 3 Pages 418-426
A survey of blood transfusion medicine (including use of warm fresh whole blood) was performed in the remote islands in Kagoshima Prefecture. Responses were received from all 101 institutions targeted.
Results showed that patients at institutions on islands close to the Kagoshima mainland who require blood transfusion are transferred to a core institute on that island, or further transferred to a high-level institute on the Kagoshima mainland. However, in remote islands such as the Amami group of islands, the patient is transferred to a core institute on that island, or to a high-level institution in Amami-Oshima, but cannot be transferred to the Kagoshima mainland.
Red blood cells from Red Cross donations were stocked in six institutes among five islands. Among six islands, however, 44 patients received warm fresh whole blood over 3 years because blood from the Red Cross could not be supplied sufficiently quickly for treatment of massive hemorrhage.
Following our survey, improvements in the blood delivery system to core medical institutions in each island are expected to be introduced. Further assistance is required to ensure blood supply in Amami-Oshima, because of the distance involved and size of the population.
