IMMUNOHEMATOLOGY/ BLOOD BANKING

COMPATIBILITY TEST
 A branch of immunology which deals with the uses of  It is a series of procedures designed to ensure
immunologic principles to study and identify the the safety of transferring blood.
different blood groups.  It must be performed before the transfusion of
 It reflects the importance of the blood bank and the blood components
MT profession in ensuring the safety and welfare of  Blood typing and crossmatching must be done
patients that require blood transfusion to prevent harmful transfusion reactions between
the recipient blood and the donor blood
Blood Bank
 A separate area in a clin lab hospital where blood COMPATIBILITY TEST
is collected from donors.  2 parts:
 Performs ABO and Rh typing 1. MAJOR CROSSMATCHING
 Prepares blood and blood components for transfusion  Patient serum is mixed with the
 Blood that is transfused into a recipient must be donor RBCs
tested first to ensure compatibility with the recipient’s  Detects if there are antibodies in
blood. the patient serum that can destroy
 To reduce the risk of transfusion reactions the transfused RBCs from the
 To ensure that the blood/blood components donor
are safe  PS-DR
2. MINOR CROSSMATCHING
ABO BLOOD GROUP SYSTEM  Patient RBCs are mixed with the
 Discovered by Karl Landsteiner (1900s) and donor serum
received the Nobel Prize (1930).  Detects if there are antibodies in
 He categorized the blood groups as A, B, and O the donor serum that can destroy
 Based on the presence of agglutinating the patients RBCs
antibodies in the serum/plasma of  PR-DS
individuals who do not possess the
corresponding ABO antigen. Blood Components and their Indications
 AB – 4th major ABO blood type 1. WHOLE BLOOD
 Discovered by Alfred Von Decastello and  Effect: volume replacement and restoration
Adriano Sturli of oxygen-carrying capacity.
 Indications:
ABO Blood Typing  acute blood loss
 A test to determine the blood type of an individual.  Irradiated Whole Blood: avoidance TA-
1. Cell typing (Direct or Forward typing) GVHD
o To determine antigens in the 2. PACKED RED BLOOD CELL (PRBC)
RBCs of an individual by using  Effect: restoring oxygen carrying capacity
commercially prepared antisera of  Indication:
known specificity  anemic conditions with hypoxia
2. Serum typing (Backward, direct or 3. WASHED PRBC
indirect typing)  Indications:
o To determine antibodies in the  Allergic response to plasma
serum/plasma of an individual by proteins
using RBCs of known specificity 4. LEUKOCYTE-REDUCED PRBC
 Indications:
Rh BLOOD GROUP SYSTEM  febrile transfusion reactions
 Discovered by Karl Landsteiner and 5. FROZEN PRBC
Alexander Wiener (1940)  Indications:
 They injected rabbits with Rhesus  unusual blood types
macaque monkey RBCs and Rh antibodies
were produced. 6. IRRADIATED PRBC
o Rh antibodies + human RBCs  Indications:
= AGGLUTINATION → Rh  Avoidance TA-GVHD
POSITIVE 7. FRESH FROZEN PLASMA (FFP)
o Rh antibodies + human RBCs =  Effect: replacement of plasma factors
o NO  Indications:
AGGLUTINATION→Rh  severe bleeding in unknown factor
NEGATIVE deficiency
 5 important Rh antigens: D, C, E, c, e 8. PLATELET CONCENTRATE
o D antigen = most important and  Indications:
immunogenic antigen  thrombocytopenia
o Rh Typing = based on the presence and  platelet dysfunction
absence of the D antigen on the surface of 9. CRYOPRECIPITATE
RBCs using commercially prepared anti-D  Indications:
antisera  Fibrinogen deficiency