Description

Current pre-transfusion policy requires the patients’ serum to be tested for the presence of irregular red blood cell antibodies. In case of an alloantibody, red blood cells lacking the corresponding antigen are transfused after an antiglobulin crossmatch. The aim of the studies in this thesis is primarily to investigate whether this policy should change to improve transfusion safety. This thesis explores the risk on red blood cell alloimmunization after blood transfusion in oncohematologic patients and in patients who already formed antibodies after a previous transfusion event. Furthermore, the risks of current pretransfusion testing with regard to antibodies to low incidence antigens, timing of antibody testing and antibody persistence were studied.