Survival of blood group factors after death.

The tissues of the body decompose at different rates after death, but little is known of how long red cell antigens persist in the cadaver, this despite the data available on the decay of agglutinins in stored blood samples and on the appearance of false antibodies and panagglutinability when they become infected (Thomsen, 1927; Steffan, 1932). Latterly the stability of red cell agglutinogens in vitro has also been studied (Mourant, 1951) and reports of false agglutinogens in stored blood have appeared (Fruin, 1946). Grouping of forensic blood stains is known to be trustworthy, but for investigation of transfusion reactions at necropsy whole red cells must be used. The present investigation shows that tests on red cells obtained from the body after death give reliable results. Materials and Methods Cadaver blood from 100 patients who had been grouped during life but had not been transfused shortly before death was examined. Samples, which were usually fluid, were collected without anticoagulant or sterile precautions from a major vein at necropsy. Many of the cadavers had been refrigerated at 7° C. and necropsies were made between three and 140 hours after death (mean, 35 hours; S.D., 46; log-normal distribution). Washed red cell suspensions were all tested in tubes (Mollison, Mourant, and Race, 1948) within 48 hours and most of them within one hour of collection. National Blood Transfusion Service sera were used with saline or albumin anti-D as available and the results were read both macroscopically and microscopically. Thirty-five of the postmortem samples were also tested with human serum from a group AB subject and 12 with Coombs serum.