[clairekim]

Hi all,

My wife has been refractory to platelet transfusions. Doctors believed that she had developed HLA antibodies. They said that BMT with heavy HLA antibody presence pose extra risk for graft rejection.

My wife is now transfusion independent (barely). And we are now preparing for BMT. As such, I was trying to obtain a record from last November when I requested the doctor to have HLA Antibody Screening done. I found out today that she was actually found negative for antibody presence!!! So I am so confused. Why is she refractory to platelet transfusions when she has no HLA antibody? Blood bank person who I spoke with was also confused.

Even more confusing is that there is one local donor whose platelet works the wonders for my wife. His/her platelet will boost the count and last for couple of weeks. I've been thinking his/her platelet was HLA matched (we didn't actually do any HLA matching on his blood. We just stumbled upon his product and kept on asking for more).

Did anyone else had this issue?