Hemolytic disease of the newborn secondary to rhesus alloimmunization was once a major contributor to perinatal morbidity and mortality. Today, rhesus immune globulin has markedly decreased the prevalence of this disease so that only one to six cases occur in every 1000 live births. The rarity of this condition warrants consideration of consultation or referral to a maternal-fetal medicine spec...

A retrospective review of HIA antibody testing and transfusion records of 1 00 cancer patients who required extensive platelet support revealed that 27 of 1 00 patients exhibited positive HLA antibody tests; only 13 remained positive on repetitive examination, while 88% of aplastic anemia patients so tested were positive. Sixty-five patients with leukemia, 1 6 with Ewing’s sarcoma, and 19 with ...

BACKGROUND Several irregular red blood cell alloantibodies, produced by alloimmunization of antigens in transfusions or pregnancies, have clinical importance because they cause hemolysis in the fetus and newborn and in transfused patients. OBJECTIVE a prospective analysis of patients treated by the surgical and clinical emergency services of Hospital de Clínicas of the Universidade Federal do...

Over the past 20 years the molecular bases of almost all the major blood group antigens have been determined. This research has enabled development of DNA-based methods for determining blood group genotype. The most notable application of these DNA-based methods has been for determining fetal blood group in pregnancies when the fetus is at risk for hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn. Th...

BACKGROUND A selective susceptibility of certain individuals to form multiple alloantibodies in response to red cell transfusion is well-recognized in clinical practice, and is a particular problem in persons with sickle cell disease (SCD). The reason for this differential susceptibility is unclear, but inter-individual genetic differences are likely to contribute. METHODS We conducted a pilo...

PURPOSE This research was undertaken to determine the advantages, complications, costs, and efficacy of erythrocytapheresis in young pediatric patients who receive chronic erythrocyte transfusion therapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS We retrospectively analyzed data for 10 children who received erythrocytapheresis for an average of 16 months. Erythrocytapheresis was compared to simple transfusion the...

Repeated transfusions with platelets from randomly selected donors lead to HLA alloimmunization in about 50% of patients due to lymphocyte contamination of platelet concentrates. Attempts to remove the leukocytes from the platelet concentrates by additional centrifugation steps led to substantial loss of platelets. We report a new procedure for removal of almost all leukocytes with excellent pl...

Due to blood transfusions, pregnancy, and organ/tissue transplants or grafts,1 red blood cell alloimmunization may lead to serious complications, such as hemolytic transfusion reactions,2–4 which have been regarded as one of the most frequent causes of transfusion-related deaths in recent years according to reports from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).5 Rh, the most complex blood group s...

Alloimmunization to donor class I HLA antigens represents a major obstacle to successful platelet transfusion therapy. It is desirable to distinguish alloimmunization from nonimmunologic causes of poor platelet survival to assess the need for HLA-matched, single-donor platelets. We describe a new in vitro assay for anti-HLA antibodies and report its application to the problem of platelet crossm...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Multiple platelet transfusions may induce alloimmunization. Platelet alloimmunization involves human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antibodies and platelet-specific antibodies, which recognize platelet glycoproteins. No data are available about the frequency and characteristics of platelet-specific antibodies in patients who have received multiple platelet transfusions in Taiwan...