Quote:
Originally Posted by Jennifer2007
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.
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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