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The Immunohematology Reference Lab provides patient testing services and consultative services for hospital blood banks. Most of the testing performed by Reference Lab staff involves patients who may have made antibodies to red cell markers as a result of previous transfusion or pregnancy.
Our highly skilled technologists test such patients to identify any problems that may complicate transfusion therapy, and they help to select matched blood for transfusion. In some cases, the Reference Lab provides matched blood, either from its own stock of approximately 700 liquid and frozen units, or through its unique relationship with the American Rare Donor Program (ARDP), a national registry of people with extremely rare blood types.
Patients who receive many transfusions may need blood that is matched not only for ABO and Rh type, but also for additional red cell markers. In some cases, this is necessary to ensure that the transfusion will be accepted by the body, in other cases, it may help to prevent future complications. Blood that is matched for several markers is most likely to be found in a person of the same ethnic background as the patient. The Reference Lab has an active program to screen African-American donors in order to fulfill the needs of frequently-transfused African-American patients, such as those with sickle cell disease or kidney failure.
The Lab also routinely tests blood donors to identify other types of rare donors whose blood can be used for patients with multiple or certain types of antibodies. Donors with certain marker patterns who are identified as extremely rare donors are registered with the ARDP. Through the ARDP, we can request matching blood from other participating centers if such blood cannot be found among our own local donors, and in return, we help other centers with similar requests. In 2004, the Reference Lab screened and added 50 new donors to the ARDP, which is a remarkable achievement.
The Reference Lab also performs patient testing for platelet antibodies. Patients who receive many platelet transfusions, such as patients on chemotherapy or after bone marrow transplantation, often respond poorly to additional platelet transfusions. Such patients may have serious bleeding with minor injury, and sometimes, may bleed even without any injury. The Lab identifies the presence of antibodies in the patient samples and provides matching platelets for transfusion. The matched platelets are provided either from existing stock or from matched blood donors selected and recruited for the needs of a specific patient.
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