Elimination of Causative Antibody by Plasma Exchange in a Patient with an Acute Hemolytic Transfusion Reaction / 대한수혈학회지

An ABO-incompatible transfusion is a very rare event but it can cause severe adverse effects, including death. The prognosis is affected by various factors, such as the volume of infusion, underlying diseases, and immunologic state. Until now, however, there has been no consensus regarding the treatment of an ABO-incompatible transfusion except for conservative treatment. A 57 year-old male patient visited the authors' emergency unit with multiple trauma due to a car accident. He had a deep laceration on his left neck accompanied by severe bleeding. Because of his low blood pressure and low hemoglobin level due to bleeding, an emergency transfusion was attempted. Unfortunately, one unit of RBC was transfused incorrectly into the patient due to a clerical error during the identification of the patient. The patient was typed as O, RhD positive; the RBC administered was A, RhD positive. After the transfusion, the patient showed an acute hemolytic transfusion reaction due to gross hematuria. Plasma exchange was attempted and medical treatment with high dose steroid with diuretics was done simultaneously. Two cycles of plasma exchange were done and the patient appeared to recover from the acute adverse effects of the transfusion. The plasma exchange was stopped and medical treatments for the transfusion reactions were maintained for ten days. The patient recovered fully and was discharged after one month. Based on this case, although more studies are necessary for approval as a standard therapy, this case suggests that immediate plasma exchange with medical treatment can be very helpful for eliminating the isoagglutinins in ABO-incompatible transfusions.

Case of Acute Hemolytic Transfusion Reaction due to Anti-Fy(a) Alloantibody in a Patient with Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia / 대한수혈학회지

A 72-year-old man with general weakness visited the outpatient clinic of the hematology department. The patient had been treated under the diagnosis of autoimmune hemolytic anemia for 2 years. His hemoglobin level at the time of the visit was 6.3 g/dL, and a blood transfusion was requested to treat his anemia. The patient's blood type was A, RhD positive. Antibody screening and identification test showed agglutination in all reagent cells with a positive reaction to autologous red blood cells (RBCs). He had a prior transfusion history with three least incompatible RBCs. The patient returned home after receiving one unit of leukoreduced filtered RBC, which was the least incompatible blood in the crossmatching test. After approximately five hours, however, fever, chills, dyspnea, abdominal pain, and hematuria appeared and the patient returned to the emergency room next day after the transfusion. The anti-Fy(a) antibody, which was masked by the autoantibody, was identified after autoadsorption using polyethylene glycol. He was diagnosed with an acute hemolytic transfusion reaction due to anti-Fy(a) that had not been detected before the transfusion. In this setting, it is necessary to consider the identification of coexisting alloantibodies in patients with autoantibodies and to become more familiar with the method of autoantibody adsorption.