Project 1. BloodMatch Benefits; The effect of donor and patient’s risk factor steered extended matching and new blood group typing platforms
At present the current transfusion practice is mainly aimed to prevent the adverse health effects of immunization (i.e. haemolytic transfusion reactions and haemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn) rather than preventing immunization itself. Approximately 20% of multiple transfused patients become immunized against multiple different blood group antigens, which makes the identification of compatible donor blood laborious, costly and sometimes impossible.
Ongoing research will lead to a growing ability to identify patients who are at higher risk for alloimmunization. Together with previously developed high throughput blood group genotyping assays, which allow better matching of donor and recipient, a survey on the feasibility of a preventive (patient-risk adapted) matching strategy is justified. This project will provide the scientific basis for this new transfusion strategy, including associated cost effects.