Transfusion
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Review Multicenter Study
Clinical significance of RBC alloantibodies and autoantibodies in sickle cell patients who received transfusions.
The clinical significance of alloimmunization to RBC antigens in sickle cell patients was analyzed by a retrospective review of the records of pediatric and adult sickle cell patients who received transfusions and who were followed over a 10-year period. ⋯ The alloimmunization rate is 29 percent in pediatric and 47 percent in adult sickle cell patients when partial or extended RBC antigen match is not performed. However, the delayed serologic and/or hemolytic transfusion reactions did not result in severe clinical outcome in most instances. The most important adverse event was hyperhemolysis, which may be triggered by a transfusion, but was not prevented by matching for RBC antigens. In most instances, the cause of hyperhemolysis was multifactorial.