Our reference laboratory recently investigated a case in which a patient had transient depression of the LW antigen and also produced anti-LW. Reported here are the methods which we employed in the identification of the antibody along with an outline of the LW blood group system.
An attempt to determine the clinical significance of anti-Bga was performed by transfusing 51Cr-labelled red blood cells (RBC) from HLA-B7 positive donors to four patients who had histories of anti-Bga. Pre-and post-transfusion samples showed no change in antibody titer scores, haptoglobin or complement levels. Three of the patients were then transfused with 51Cr-labelled RBC from HLA-B7 negative donors and the half-life (T50Cr) of both were compared. Although low, the T50Cr of HLA-B7 incompatible RBC appeared to be similar to the T50Cr of HLA-B7 compatible RBC.
In order to assess the feasibility of using a type and screen procedure in Kyoto, our laboratory did a retrospective study of 31, 490 crossmatches performed on 4, 276 patient samples. This included analysis of 672 patients who had positive antibody histories, and the distribution of the antibody specif icities they developed. This study also reviewed a single (0.03%) case in which a patient with no history of antibody problems, and negative antibody screening, had an incompatible crossmatch. We also reviewed 11(2.42%) cases of patients with histories of positive antibody screenings in which the current sample was nonreactive but the crossmatch was incompatible. We have concluded that patient safety would not be at risk if certain essential guidelines are met when adopting a type and screen procedure.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.