Malcolm Needs

Well Mabel, I had the great honour of hearing Martin Olsson give a lecture at the Royal College of Pathologists at Doug Voak's retirement do a few years ago. It was absolutely fascinating. He was saying that, even then, there were over 80 different kinds of genetic backgrounds to the A transferase, but that, even then it wasn't that simple! For example, the transferase resulting in an Ax in Finland (say) is quite different to the transferase resulting in an Ax in Japan (say), but that all those in Finland (or, at least, around one area of Finland) were genetically identical, and the same goes for the (area) of Japan. So the genotype may differ, but the phenotype is similar. Personally, I wish they'ed never started doing this kind of thing. Makes us serologists feel redundant! PaulSunV, more power to your elbow! Get rid of the anti-A,B. It pays for suppliers holidays. :)

As the manager of a Reference Laboratory, I agree with you ENTIRELY. The only thing I would say is that we always make sure tht the hospital receiving a telephoned report KNOW from the word go that such a report is an interim report and that the final report may differ from the telephoned report, on the grounds that not all the tests will have been finished. In such a situation, we always err on the side of safety (e.g. give X negative blood, assume the patient is X negative, assume the antibody to be allo, rather than auto, until proved otherwise, etc).

Blow me Kate. If you're beginning to fell like a dinosaur, spare a thought for us blue/green algae!!!!!!!!!!!

Absolutely.

NO! I know it's got to be done, but some things are just impossible! :eek:

Hmmm indeed! Just as a matter of interest, what was the ethnic origin of this patient? Was he/she of Black ethnic origin, as individuals from this ethnic origin do sometimes show a very weak C antigen (THAT, BY THE WAY, IS NO EXCUSE - INDEED, IT IS EVEN MORE REASON TO LOOK CLOSELY AT THE TEST RESULTS). :confused::confused:

I'm not saying it doesn't happen (I certainly wouldn't argue with you or anyone else). What I will say, however, is that if the NHSBT sends out a "wrong" unit there is all hell to pay, involving root cause analysis, quality incidents, you name it, and heads could well roll. I am just amazed that blood suppliers elsewhere in the world don't have the same systems.

Ah! They're a different kettle of fish. I believe a bloke called George Garratty works for them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think I'd believe something that came from them (with his backing)! :):)

As a seasoned poster, I thnk you for that froggymark, but it is not just the seasoned posters that have breadth (and depth) of knowledge. I've learned an awful lot from posters who have only made a very few posts. The great thing is, everyone has something useful to give, and for the most part they do. If you look at TimOz, just as an example, he has posted about 80 times, and so is considered to be a member, rather than a seasoned poster, and yet about 75 of those posts are pithy and to the point. It's brilliant site. :D:D:D:D

Oh My God! Then you blood supplier has no defence at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do you believe other people's blood groups without checking?????????????? :omg::omg:

If we don't learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it.

I agree with you Rashmi, that this seems to be the most likely answer, but given that they were cord stem cells, going back to the donor could be more difficult than normal (although some of the donor cells should have been kept). When using cord stem cells, however, the HLA match can be less "exact" than when peripheral stem cells are used, because the humoral immune line is still niaive (I can't spell it, but I hope you know what I mean!). :D

Hi shily, Cell lines, such as erythroblastic cell lines, are subject to many spontaneous changes to the base pairs making up the active genes, purely because there are so many opportunities during mitosis for "mistakes" to be made. Usually, your own immune system will identify these as being non-self, and will destroy them quite quickly, before the clone can establish itself. In cases of cancer (of all types) a clone of cells has "gone wild", but the person's own immune system does not recognise this clone as non-self, and the clone becomes established. The same can occur for blood groups on the red cells (or, in this case, the genes encoding the transferase enzymes), and a clone of cells producing the "B transferase" (or, more likely, "B-like transferase") can become established, and group B cells (or group B-like cells) can, very rarely, be detected in the circulation of a group A patient. Much more commonly, group O cells are seen in the circulation of a group A concer patient (without them having had a group O transfusion). :)

I agree. The other bit to this is, If it is written down, but is not signed and dated....it is graffiti. :)

True Mabel, but, in the UK we changed from orange labels for anti-A, red for anti-B and blue for anti-A,B, to blue for anti-A, yellow for anti-B, clear for anti-A,B and green for AHG at around about the same time as the unit labels went to black and white. I don't think that we had too much trouble with this. All we need is international agreement ("all" being one of the largest words in the dictionary)! :(

The feeling is mutual.

Hi Andrew, You will learn a tremendous amount here, as we all have. Not least, you will learn just how generous people are with their knowledge and time. It is amazing.

Unless in exceptional circumstances, neither of there should EVER happen. :eek::eek:

Should this not have been in the "Just For Fun" thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????? Sorry, couldn't resist it! :D:D:D:D

This is getting a bit worrying, but I agree with Rashmi again. It is well known, by the way, that protein adheres to plastic, and what are antibodies??????????? Oh, protein. I presume this move is on the grounds of health and safety. I have seen far worse cuts from broken jagged plastic tubes than I ever have from sharp broken glass tubes. Should we also replace paper? Paper cuts are very painful.

Two of the last ten people to visit my Profile Page were Apple and CIderman. Coincidence???????????? :haha::haha:

Goodness me Rashmi, I would never suggest submitting manipulated results. I would suggest submitting true results and letting those that prevent you submitting accurate/precise results stew in their own juice.

Once again, I agree. But sometimes it is lack of support from those holding the purse strings that prevents us doing the "right thing".

I know that you were actually directing your question to Kate, John, but please forgive me for interfering! We often have to provide blood for this procedure to the larger London Teaching Hospitals in our area, and it is usually for the prevention of a CVA in a young sickle cell patient, or for the treatment of sickle chest syndrome, treatment of priapism and also to bring down the proportion of HbS prior to the patient undergoing general anaesthetic (an oxygen poor situation) and, very, very occasionally, so that they can take a flight (another oxygen poor situation) so, yes, it really does help. Again, sorry to both Kate and you for butting in. :)

I totally agree with you Joan.