What exactly happens in the human body during a blood transfusion? How is the extra blood accommodated?
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Yes you are absolutely right in thinking that fluid overload is a possible complication of receiving blood, because it is.
When a medical team is administering blood to a patient they are attentive to the possible complications that can arise. The one that most people think of is ABO incompatibility but that is just one of the many possible complications and it actually occurs very infrequently.
Volume overload following a transfusion is much more common however. I just looked it up and found it carries a risk of happening in one in 100 transfusions, according to one article I found on Medscape. It happens more in patients who already have heart or kidney problems or in patients who receive blood too quickly. In these patients the excess fluid will overload the circulatory system and may leak into the lungs causing the person to feel like they can’t breath.
Of course in the majority of people this won’t happen but it is a very real complication and cause of death following a blood transfusion.
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