Background: To find compatible rare bloods, the Korean Red Cross (KRC) blood center is currently testing many units randomly selected from the units in storage. Since this procedure is usually very time-consuming, it is necessary to establish a new donor management system for the rare blood types.
Methods: We evaluated 261 units of red blood cells (RBCs), which were supplied as compatible bloods to the requests of hospitals in 2003.
Results: A total of 14 hospitals requested 248 units of compatible RBCs for their 39 patients through 64 occasions and 261 units were supplied. The blood types of 35 patients were identified using the medical records of the hospitals. A total of 19 kinds of specific antigens were negative and, among them, 10 kinds of single specific antigens were negative and 9 kinds of multiple antigens were negative. The frequencies of the negative antigens were C+e(17.9%), E+c(10.3%) and Jka(10.3%), respectively. The number of tested blood units was 1,894 and the rate of compatibility was 13.8%. The mean age of 257 blood donors was 22.5 and, among them, 220 donors (85.6%) were multiple donors with 7.5 collections on average.
Conclusion: We conclude that the rare blood type donor registration system is necessary and suggest the following preconditions. First, the results of compatible blood test and irregular antibody screening test for the blood donor need to be registered automatically by the blood information management system(BIMS). Second, the test system should be improved to enhance the irregular antibody detection rate. Third, establishment of a frozen-thawing system for RBCs is needed. Fourth, the donors need to be informed of the results of their rare blood type, if any, including irregular antibody. Fifth, a new organization should be established to manage the rare blood type donor registration system. Finally, well cooperation with hospitals and KRC blood center is needed to ensure the stability of blood service for rare blood type RBCs.
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