New: Platelets from different blood type
 

Hello,

My father has been recently diagnosed with MDS. His platelets were at 13 and when he went in for a platelet transfusion they did not have his blood type (O neg). Instead they had to give him O positive.

I can't find any information on whether this is dangerous or not; has this happened to anyone else?

I am in information overload and each new thing is hard to digest.

Anybody's assistance is appreciated.

Jennifer

Hi Jen, I read an article in the paper earlier this year that they found a way to make all blood types compatible for people in need. I hope this helps.
Maddie c

Hi, Jennifer.

Welcome to Marrowforums. Your father is lucky to have you out looking for information and trying to understand the complexities of dealing with MDS. I'm sure you'll be able to get some understandable answers to your questions here.

In answer to your question about platelet transfusions, it is less important to have a blood-type match for platelets than it is for red cell transfusions where it is essential. But patients who will be receiving many transfusions (as MDS patients often do) should get only leukocyte-filtered platelets. This helps to reduce the chances of the patient becoming "refractory" to platelets, which can happen after only a few or many transfusions. When you are refractory to platelets it means that the platelets you get via transfusion are ineffective or ignored by the body.

Your father is not in danger from single transfusion of O neg platelets, but be sure that his doctor always orders leukocyte-filtered platelets and that the blood bank where he gets his transfusions knows this is a requirement for him.

Let us know what other questions you have as they come up. We're here to help.

Regards,
Ruth

Blood typing
 

refers to the surface proteins on Red blood cells. They do the cross and match for the red cell transfusions. John is O positive and he's had many platelet transfusion from A, B and AB donors. Some seem to get a better bump from platelets that match their own type. This was never the case for John.

Marlene

Hi Jennifer,

My son Grant is type Oneg and he quite often gets Opos platelets. The Rh factor doesn't seem to make any difference at all for him. However, type A platelets do absolutely nothing. He got them only once and they did not increase his platelet count at all so from that point on, he always gets type O. I believe that is quite common with Type O patients.

Wendy/mom to Grant
dx AA 12/4/98

Thank you
 

This site is a wealth of information for individuals like myself attempting to learn more about this condition.

I very much appreciate all of the assistance; thank you so much.

Jennifer