risk of HDFN, which can cause fetal anemia, hydrops, and intrauterine fetal death. Babies born with HDFN are at significant risk of neonatal morbidity and mortality [1,2]. Prenatal detection of the fetal RhD status in a pregnant woman with RhD-negative provides useful information for predicting the risk of HDFN and Noninvasive fetal RHD genotyping using cell-free fetal DNA incorporating fetal R...

This focused review presents a critical appraisal of the World Heart Federation criteria for the echocardiographic diagnosis of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) and its performance in African RHD screening programmes. It identifies various logistical and methodological problems that negatively influence the current guideline's performance. The authors explore novel RHD screening methodology that c...

OBJECTIVES To assess the accuracy of fetal RHD genotyping using cell-free fetal DNA in maternal plasma at different gestational ages. DESIGN A prospective multicentre cohort study. SETTING Seven maternity units in England. PARTICIPANTS RhD negative pregnant women who booked for antenatal care before 24 weeks' gestation. INTERVENTIONS Women who gave consent for fetal RHD genotyping had b...

The human blood group Rh antigens are expressed by proteins encoded by a pair of highly homologous genes located at chromosome 1p34-36. One of the genes (RHCE) encodes Rh CcEe antigens, while the other (RHD) the D antigen. Point mutations in the RHCE gene generate the C/c and E/e polymorphisms, while it has been shown that an RHD gene deletion can generate the D-negative phenotype. We have anal...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is an important risk factor for ischemic stroke in developing countries. Observational data on its characteristics and influence on outcome or recurrence of ischemic stroke are scarce. We aimed to investigate proportions, characteristics, functional outcome, and recurrence of acute ischemic stroke patients with RHD in a hospitalized Chinese p...

OBJECTIVE  To determine the accuracy of non-invasive fetal testing for the RHD gene in week 27 of pregnancy as part of an antenatal screening programme to restrict anti-D immunoglobulin use to women carrying a child positive for RHD DESIGN:  Prospectively monitoring of fetal RHD testing accuracy compared with serological cord blood typing on introduction of the test. Fetal RHD testing was perfo...

BACKGROUND Early case detection is vital in rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in children to minimize the risk of advanced valvular heart disease by preventive measures. The currently utilized World Health Organization (WHO) criteria for echocardiographic diagnosis of subclinical RHD emphasize the presence of pathological valve regurgitation but do not include valves with morphological features of ...

BACKGROUND The DEL blood type, a very weak D variant, is a major concern in the field of transfusion medicine because of its potential to cause anti-D alloimmunization. We investigated the molecular basis of serologically D-negative phenotypes, including the DEL type, and the distribution of other blood group systems in the Korean population using the recently developed multiplex ligation-depen...