T donors who are associated with TRALI events and how to reduce the risk of TRALI for recipients of blood products. To address these issues, a Consensus Conference was convened in Toronto, Canada, on April 1 and 2, 2004, entitled “Towards an Understanding of TRALI.” The conference was sponsored by Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec, with support from the International Society of Blood Transfusion’s Biomedical Excellence for Safer Transfusion (BEST) subcommittee. The format of the conference was based on that used by the National Institutes of Health and consisted of numerous expert presentations covering issues relevant to the topic, approximately 240 international attendees from a variety of backgrounds, and a consensus panel of 11 members covering a wide range of medical and other disciplines (eg, transfusion medicine, epidemiology, immunology, anesthesiology, critical care medicine, and ethics as well as a regular blood donor and a chronic transfusion recipient). The Consensus Panel members, having first reviewed summaries of the TRALI literature and Consensus Panel procedures, convened immediately before the conference to clarify objectives, principles, and roles. Based on six questions posed by the Conference Steering Committee, the Consensus Panel mandate was to develop recommendations that could be applied both in Canada and internationally.

This Consensus Panel report is based on the information presented to the panelists during the conference, a review of background literature and continued postconference discussion. Given the absence of systematic reviews and randomized trials in this field, the Consensus Panel recommendations are not graded according to current evidence-based standards. In addition, no specific evidence was presented to the Consensus Panel regarding TRALI in neonates. Although TRALI among neonates is not excluded from these recommendations, we acknowledge the absence of data related to this specific population. This statement addresses the six specific questions posed by the conference steering committee. A publication of the full conference proceedings appears elsewhere. 1