Blood group chimerism in human multiple births is not rare.
Twin blood group chimerism seems to be very rare in humans. The 30-40 previously reported cases usually were found by mere coincidence during routine blood grouping in hospitals or blood banks. Usually in these cases frank blood group mixtures of, for example, 50/50%, 25/75%, or 5/95% at most were seen. Smaller percentages are very difficult to notice during routine work-up. Using a sensitive fluorescence technique (sensitivity > 0.01%) we detected blood group chimerism in 32/415 (8%) twin pairs and 12/57 (21%) triplet pairs, respectively, which is a higher incidence than reported previously.
van Dijk
B A
BA
Blood Transfusion Department, University Hospital St. Radboud, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
Boomsma
D I
DI
de Man
A J
AJ
D000293:Adolescent; D001789:Blood Group Antigens; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002678:Chimera; D005260:Female; D005330:Fetofetal Transfusion; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D011247:Pregnancy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014310:Triplets; D014429:Twins, Dizygotic
D001789:Blood Group Antigens