Detection of Alloantibodies in Multitransfused Patients

Background: Multitransfused patients may develop alloimmunization to donor RBCs. Alloimmunization can be prevented by extended phenotype match blood transfusion. The study was conducted to know the extent of problem of alloimmunization and to find important red cell antibodies in these patients. Methods: A prospective cross sectional study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital. Multitransfused subjects who received more than six units of blood (at single or multiple occasions) over a period of three months were enrolled in our study. The study population of 50 cases were broadly divided into three categories Thalassemia, haematolymphoid malignancies and others. 3 cell panel was used for screening and 11 cell panel Column gel agglutination technique was utilised for identification of antibodies. Result: Out of 50 subjects in the study 04 had allo antibodies; 02 cases had alloantibody anti E, one case each had anti e and anti c. One case of Thalassemia had both alloantibody (anti E) as well as autoantibody. Conclusion: Red cell alloantibodies pose a significant problem in multitransfused patients and extended red cell antibody screening is highly desirable in these cases.In our study alloimmunization prevalence of 15.00% was noted in thalassemia patients.