Case A6: Elderly Patient With a Difficult Antibody Combination

We welcome feedback: Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Last updated: 16 Oct. 2016 [All links fixed]
If you find errors or have suggestions, fire away!

Contributed by: Carol Stanley, ART, Nanaimo General Hospital

HISTORY

Mrs. E.M. is a 77 yr. old female admitted with chest pain and anemia. She has been admitted several times over the previous year for investigation of chronic gastrointestinal bleeding.

  • Pregnancies: 4
  • Transfusion: 2 units of red blood cells transfused on each of three occasions over the previous year. The most recent transfusion was 4 months ago.

Initial pretransfusion testing results

Based on these results, an antibody investigation was done.

CASE SUMMARY AND QUIZ

After reviewing the case summary, consider these questions.

  1. Which antibodies were once classified as HTLA?

    Answer

  2. With which types of diseases are null Chido and Rogers phenotypes associated?

    Answer

  3. Since anti-Ch and -Rg are considered to be clinically insignificant, is it important to investigate and identify them?

    Answer

  4. Has anti-Ch or anti-Rg ever caused a severe transfusion reaction?

    Answer

FURTHER READING

Graphpad. Online tool for calculating p values

Westhoff CM, Sipherd BD, Wylie DE, Toalson LD. Severe anaphylactic reactions following transfusions of platelets to a patient with anti-Ch. Transfusion 1992 Jul-Aug;32(6):576-9. [ Medline ]