@louisejenkins.bsky.social

So this study shows how carefully selected Rh D negative patients may safely receive Rh D positive blood so when next time some is in emergency, we will have more chances of saving them.
Future studies across more hospitals and longer follow ups could improve our understanding of long term risks
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1926 units of Rh D negative blood was saved in just 5 years by allowing selected Rh D negative patients to receive Rh D positive blood.

This allowed hospitals to prioritise the limited blood supply for high risk patients like children, pregnant woman and patients who have anti D antibodies.

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Interestingly,

“Researchers found out 19.7% of anti D antibodies disappeared over time”

However it’s likely that the immune system can still remember the antigen, meaning antibodies may reappear quickly after another exposure so it’s very important to keep monitoring the patient.

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Researchers followed up patients to see if anti D antibody was developed after transfusion
76 out of 401 patients developed anti D antibody
Earlier research suggested that the risk could be as high as 50% but this study showed much lower rate around 22%
But researchers kept monitoring the patients
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To investigate,
They studied 607 Rh D negative patients who received Rh D positive transfusion.

They excluded patients who are in higher risk like children,pregnant women and patients with existing anti D antibodies because for these patients this could lead to serious complications in future
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But the researchers must consider the fact
“If Rh D negative patients receive Rh D positive blood, how often do they develop anti-D antibody”?
So instead of running a new experiment,the researchers analysed past Rh D negative patient’s records who had already received Rh D positive transfusion
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So, how do we fix this ?

Because Rh D negative patients can’t receive Rh D positive blood.
The body might recognise it as foreign and produce anti D antibody which attacks transfused Rh D positive red blood cells‼️

So researches in Oslo University hospital tried to find how this really works.
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So what is Rh D ?

Rh D is a specific antigen found on the surface of red blood cells.

If antigen is present it’s called Rh D positive
If it’s not present it’s called Rh D negative

But Rh D negative people are much rarer which creates a problem of blood shortage during emergency transfusions
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So before solving the problem, we need to understand how the blood groups are classified.

Blood groups are classified by proteins/ antigens on the surface of red blood cells.

ABO system classifies blood as 🅰️, 🅱️, 🆎 or 🅾️.

Rh factor determines if someone is Rh D positive or Rh D negative.

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Imagine you or your family member needs a lifesaving blood transfusion.🩸
But the hospital doesn’t have enough Rh D negative blood,
this is happening right now to many people because of how rare Rh D negative blood is.
So, can we use Rh D positive blood type instead ?
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