7 July 2021 (Wednesday) - K-Typing

A very valid reason for doing CPD is to keep up-to-date with current trends and practices. It has to be said they change at breakneck speed in blood transfusion.

Take fresh frozen plasma… When I was a lad the stuff only came in A and AB flavours. There was (supposedly) no need for blood group O FFP. Then the stuff came out, and there was (so it was claimed) no need to look at the labels. Anyone could have FFP of any group. Nowadays giving O FFP to a non O recipient is a “never-event”.
Take single unit transfusions. Back in the day it was widely said that the dangers of a single unit transfusion greatly outweighed the benefits. Nowadays single unit transfusions are the norm.
 

But things don’t just change over time. They change from place to place. Here in the UK is it standard practice to make sure that *all* women of childbearing age receive K-negative blood products. That is *all* women without exception !!!

Someone from America posted on the Facebook “Blood Bank Professionals Group” this morning saying that an obstetrician had asked for K-negative blood for his patient. All the UK-based people commented “well so he should”, and all the American-based people laughed.
I suppose the difference is that in the UK pretty much all of the donor blood is K-typed whereas in America the patient would be billed for the typing, but it did bother me somewhat to see posts from American lab people who were saying how easy it is to get K-negative blood for someone with anti-K antibodies (which it is), but at the same time were seemingly oblivious to the dangers of HDFN due to anti-K antibodies.

 

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