High Percentage of Evanescent Red Cell Antibodies in Patients with Sickle Cell Disease Highlights Need for a National Antibody Database.
Alloantibody formation secondary to transfusion in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) is a well-known phenomenon. Pretransfusion testing (eg, "antibody screening") protects patients from receiving incompatible red blood cell transfusions. Because alloantibodies have a tendency to evanesce (ie, become undetectable over time), however, this phenomenon puts patients at risk of a delayed hemolytic transfusion reaction or even acute hemolysis.



We evaluated the records of 71 patients with SCD with alloantibodies detected during a 2-year period to describe their most common specificities and their rate of evanescence.



We found that 81% of patients had at least one antibody that was undetectable during the study period; therefore, if patients were transfused with antigen-positive units at a facility that was unaware of their antibody history, life-threatening hemolysis could develop.



Evanescence is a real risk for patients with SCD, and national/regional databases of alloantibodies should be considered a priority.
From the Department of Pathology, Division of Laboratory Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Lance A
LA
Williams
From the Department of Pathology, Division of Laboratory Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Robin G
RG
Lorenz
From the Department of Pathology, Division of Laboratory Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Absar
A
Tahir
From the Department of Pathology, Division of Laboratory Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Huy P
HP
Pham
From the Department of Pathology, Division of Laboratory Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Marisa B
MB
Marques
D000328:Adult; D000917:Antibody Formation / Q000276:immunology; D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000379:methods; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007518:Isoantibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D065227:Transfusion Reaction; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
D007518:Isoantibodies