Incidence of Acute Haemolytic Transfusion Reaction in ABO Group-Compatible Compared with Group-Identical Blood Recipients in Ilorin, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Acute haemolytic transfusion reaction (AHTR) is a rare but fatal complication of blood transfusions especially in developing countries. Objectives: To determine the relative frequencies of group-compatible and groupidentical blood transfusions and to compare the incidences of acute haemolytic transfusion reactions in the two types. Methods: A prospective study of 140 patients above 15 years who received one unit of either group-compatible or group-identical blood for correction of anemia was carried out. Five ml of pre- and post-transfusion blood samples were collected from every patient and analyzed for evidence of hemolysis by estimating: PCV, intravascular agglutinates, plasma hemoglobin and total bilirubin concentrations, Direct Coombs’ test (DCT) and visual plasma inspection. Results: All subjects had 1 unit of either group-compatible (42.9%) or group-identical (57.1%) blood transfusions each. None of the patients suffered AHTR, as none of the samples was positive for DCT. Group-identical transfusions however, were associated with higher increments in PCV (xx% vs. xx%; p=). Conclusion: Group-identical transfusion was associated with a higher increament in PCV than group compatible one, but the latter can still be practiced in developing countries where there is no availability of blood of all groups.