title: Acquisition of anti-Diego b antibodies possibly resulting from feto-maternal hemorrhage during pregnancy.
abstract: Anti-Diego b (Di(b) ) antibodies, rare antibodies against red blood cell antigens, can cause severe hemolysis. We report a patient who most likely acquired anti-Di(b)  antibodies during pregnancy. The patient was a 39-year-old Japanese woman who delivered by cesarean section at 38 weeks of gestation. She required a second operation to treat re-bleeding of the surgical scar, but it was difficult to schedule this surgery because we could not obtain enough blood for transfusion due to the presence of anti-Di(b)  antibodies. These antibodies were likely acquired during pregnancy; she did not have irregular antibodies at 11 weeks of gestation. We speculate that she became sensitized to fetal blood due to feto-maternal hemorrhage. The infant had no hemolytic conditions. Testing for the presence of irregular antibodies should be performed during late stages of pregnancy as well as early stages.
authors.affiliation: Department of Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine, National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuriko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Oishi
authors.forename: Noriyoshi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Nobuaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ozawa
authors.forename: Haruhiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sago
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006461:Hemolysis / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007518:Isoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D011247:Pregnancy
chemical_list: D007518:Isoantibodies