Transfusion Medicine

Qingdao University Affiliated Hospital's Department of Transfusion Medicine is a medical technology department whose main services include transfusion management, transfusion testing, histocompatibility typing, clinical blood supply, and transfusion-related diagnosis and treatment services. In 1952, to meet medical needs, Qingdao University Affiliated Hospital established a blood bank—the predecessor of the Department of Transfusion Medicine—which undertook blood collection, blood storage, crossmatching, and blood supply. The Department of Transfusion Medicine was established in 1991.

The Department of Transfusion Medicine undertakes all tasks related to transfusion in medical care, teaching, and scientific research. Over the years, the Department of Transfusion Medicine has emphasized quality management, has consistently participated in the external quality assessment organized by the Clinical Laboratory Center of the National Health Commission, and has achieved excellent results; in 2023, the Department of Transfusion Medicine used the 15189 assessment as a basis to comprehensively improve the department's service quality. In addition, the Department of Transfusion Medicine is responsible for managing and evaluating the quality of clinical transfusion throughout the hospital, the hospital-wide blood supply, and providing clinical departments with safe and reliable transfusion compatibility testing, platelet matching, histocompatibility typing, and transfusion-related thrombosis and hemostasis testing technologies, as well as scientific, impartial, accurate, and reliable transfusion diagnosis and treatment services.

The Department of Transfusion Medicine's teaching program has established a multi-campus training and assessment system, with homogeneous and standardized teaching management across the three campuses. With teaching in this department as the focus, it provides homogeneous video-based teaching and training across the three campuses: the Transfusion Grand Lecture on Mondays, and difficult case discussions, emergency drills, or departmental lectures on professional practice under the Three Basics and Three Stricts on Wednesdays.

It also undertakes undergraduate and master's graduate teaching tasks at Qingdao University. Since 2021, it has trained a total of 12 standardized residency trainees; in 2019, it became one of the first standardized training bases for transfusion testing technology in Qingdao, undertaking 3-5 standardized training sessions in transfusion testing technology each year,

November 21-24, 2023, the Special Training Course on the Application of New Technologies in Clinical Transfusion, organized by the Clinical Transfusion Professional Committee of Qingdao University Medical Group, was successfully held in the Science and Education Building of the West Coast Campus of Qingdao University Affiliated Hospital.

Department members work diligently to deepen their professional expertise and summarize work experience. As first or corresponding authors, they have published more than 100 papers, including 34 SCI papers, with the highest impact factor being 16.227; 4 patents have been granted; as principal investigators, they have obtained approval for 17 research projects, including 2 national-level Natural Science Foundation projects, 5 provincial- and ministerial-level Natural Science Foundation projects, and 1 departmental- and municipal-level Natural Science Foundation project.

Talent Structure

The Department of Transfusion Medicine has 34 staff members, all of whom are professional and technical personnel; 33 have a bachelor's degree or above, including 12 with senior professional titles, 19 with intermediate professional titles, and 3 with junior professional titles. Five hold doctoral degrees, 14 hold master's degrees, and there are 2 transfusion physicians.

Featured Technologies

With medical quality at its center, the discipline draws on advanced diagnostic and treatment experience from China and abroad and focuses on developing its professional strengths, forming within the department a modern structure featuring comprehensive development across multiple specialties. The featured technologies currently offered include:

1. Testing related to histocompatibility typing

To improve the survival rates of organ and bone marrow transplantation and recipients' quality of life, the Department of Transfusion Medicine established a PCR laboratory at the Laoshan Campus and successfully passed acceptance inspection in June 2020 in a single attempt. This placed our hospital's high-resolution genetic matching and antibody testing technologies for organ transplantation at an advanced level nationally. By performing high-resolution HLA genotyping and panel-reactive antibody testing, the department provides precise matching for clinical blood use and transplantation.

2. ABO and Rh (D) blood group genetic testing

The Department of Transfusion Medicine of Qingdao University Affiliated Hospital currently offers PCR-SSP-based ABO genotyping and RhD genetic testing, as well as first-generation Sanger gene sequencing technology, to assist in precise blood group identification and ensure safe and effective clinical transfusion.

3. Clinical application of platelet-rich plasma (PRP)

PRP can be used to treat many diseases, common examples including rotator cuff injuries, meniscal damage, nonhealing skin wounds in patients with diabetes, pressure ulcers, intestinal fistulas, and thin-walled uterus.

4. Application of apheresis treatment technology

Blood-cell apheresis and plasma exchange are used to assist in the clinical treatment of hematologic diseases, drug poisoning, immune diseases, neurological diseases, and others.

5. New-method exchange transfusion treatment technology

This innovative treatment model integrates multiple treatment technologies, including whole-blood exchange, partial whole-blood exchange, and lymphoplasma exchange. It has been successfully applied clinically to the treatment of CO poisoning, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, systemic lupus erythematosus, pyruvate kinase deficiency, and other diseases.

6. CAR-T cell therapy

It is used to treat hematologic malignancies, such as leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma, as well as patients with advanced cancer and metastases.

7. Jointly developed with Haier and implemented nationwide: a full-process intelligent blood management system.

The country's first full-process intelligent blood management system, jointly developed using advanced RFID and network communication technologies, has been comprehensively promoted and applied in major hospitals throughout Qingdao with the support of the Qingdao Municipal Health Commission. It has been reported by multiple media outlets, including News Broadcast and CCTV News, and has achieved good economic and social benefits.

8. The province's first transfusion outpatient clinic was established to provide consultation and treatment for blood disease diagnosis and treatment and transfusion-related issues.

9. Autologous transfusion

Multiple forms of autologous transfusion are actively carried out, and autologous transfusion is promoted for pregnant and postpartum women with rare blood groups or positive irregular antibodies. At the same time, the Department of Transfusion Medicine works jointly with the Department of Anesthesiology and the Department of Cardiac Surgery to perform autologous platelet separation for patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass during major vascular surgery, thereby achieving perioperative blood conservation.