BACKGROUND Group O red blood cell (RBC) units are used for emergency transfusions and are often uncrossmatched when transfused. We sought to determine the risk of alloimmunization and identify acute adverse outcomes of this practice. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS The transfusion medicine database was searched for emergency-release transfusion (ERT) episodes from January 2006 through December 2010....

Delayed hemolytic transfusion reaction (DHTR), a life-threatening transfusion complication in sickle cell disease (SCD), is characterized by a marked hemoglobin drop with destruction of both transfused and autologous red blood cells (RBCs) and exacerbation of SCD symptoms. One mechanism of RBCs destruction is auto-antibody production secondary to transfusion. As rituximab specifically targets c...

In this study, we report the first Korean case of an anti-Gerbich (Ge) alloantibody to a high-incidence antigen that belongs to the Ge blood group system. The alloantibody was detected in a middle-aged Korean woman who did not have a history of transfusion. Her blood type was B+, and findings from the antibody screening test revealed 1+ reactivity in all panels except the autocontrol. The cross...

lood transfusions are prevalent treatment procedures nowadays for various medical conditions that involve the administration of whole blood or separated components alone in combinations can be administered intravenously; these undertaken with therapeutic curative goals mind, they may carry associated risks and complications must weighed against benefits before initiating therapy. A typical subs...

A 28-year-old woman with sickle cell anemia suffered a left hemispheric cerebrovascular accident associated with severe right-sided weakness during a delayed hemolytic transfusion reaction owing to anti-rh' (C) and anti-S. The anti-rh' (C) had been identified four years earlier at a different hospital but neither the patient, her family, nor any member of the staff of the hospital where she was...

EACTIONS to the transfusion of blood are ordinarily classified as pyrogenic, allergic or hemolytic. The first two are relatively minor in importance, but hemolytic transfusion reactions, usually due to the use of incompatible blood, are severe and may be lethal. Another type of reaction to whole blood, not previously described, was observed by us in at least ii cases during the past three years...

Autoimmune hemolytic anemias include warm and cold reactive autoimmune hemolytic anemias (WAIHA and CAD), paroxysmal cold hemoglobinuria (PCH), and drug-induced hemolytic anemias. If autoimmune hemolytic anemia is suspected, the clinical history should be communicated to the transfusion service, because specific tests to confirm these diagnoses are not routinely performed. This includes evaluat...