🩸 What do the labels “Ir” and “LR” on blood products mean?

Healthcare providers, especially in large hospitals, see blood products every day. Each unit comes with a label full of codes and abbreviations—but do you really know what they all mean? Let’s break down two important ones:

🔷 Ir (Irradiated: Gamma-irradiated)

“Ir” indicates that the blood product has been gamma-irradiated. The dose (measured in Gray, Gy) and date are printed on the label.

The purpose is to prevent transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease (TA-GVHD), a fatal complication caused by donor lymphocytes engrafting and proliferating in the recipient’s body.

Red blood cells, platelets, and whole blood require irradiation, while fresh frozen plasma (FFP) does not, since it contains no viable lymphocytes.

Thanks to this preventive measure, cases of TA-GVHD have become extremely rare in Japan since the early 2000s.

🔷 LR (Leukocyte-reduced / Prestorage leukoreduction)

“LR” means that leukocytes have been removed before storage. Today, all blood components undergo prestorage leukoreduction in blood centers.

This significantly reduces:

• Febrile transfusion reactions
• Platelet refractoriness due to HLA alloimmunization
• Transmission of cytomegalovirus (CMV)
• Unexplained immunosuppression

Prestorage leukoreduction is now standard worldwide to improve transfusion safety.

🔷 Preventing human error

Modern blood bank systems include barcodes on every product. Scanning the product against the patient’s wristband ensures that mismatched transfusions or patient identification errors are virtually eliminated.

Human error can never be reduced to absolute zero—but by creating systems where mistakes are nearly impossible to make, patient safety is maximized.

It’s the medical equivalent of cars with brake-override systems that prevent pedal misapplication accidents.

📝 Summary

🔗 Related articles

Japanese version