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Why is O- blood okay, but O- plasma not, when blood is mostly plasma?
According to the source of all knowledge (wikipedia lol), a person with type O- blood can donate whole blood to anyone, but can only receive blood of type O-. A person with type AB blood can donate plasma to anyone, but can only receive plasma of type AB.
So, if I have a unit of type O- blood, I (a person with AB+ blood) can accept it. However, if I take the blood cells out, it suddenly becomes incompatible. What gives?
"In transfusing whole blood, the amount of plasma transfused is minimal, and any reaction between the antibodies in the transfused blood and the antigens on the recipient's RBC's is assumed to be minimal."
See, that's what I find/found confusing. If it's true that whole blood transfusion is rare, then it makes sense that the antibodies can be ignored. But how long have packed RBCs been used as a primary form of transfusion? I was under the impression that whole blood was used for much longer, and the antibodies were still being ignored.
... I thought they were talking about packed RBCs, when they specifically said 'whole blood'. So, the question is: How the heck is 55% of the blood 'minimal'?
1 Answer
- Anonymous1 decade agoFavorite Answer
O- has no antigens on the RBC's and thus will not react with natural antibodies in the recipient. AB Plasma lacks all antibodies against blood type antigens and thus can be donated to anyone
In transfusing whole blood, the amount of plasma transfused is minimal, and any reaction between the antibodies in the transfused blood and the antigens on the recipient's RBC's is assumed to be minimal. Therefore the primary concern is hemolysis of the transfused RBC's by the recipient's own antibodies.
When plasma alone is transfused, the only possible reaction is between transfused antibodies and the recipient's own RBC antigens. There are no RBCs being transfused, so hemolysis of these cells is not a concern. In this situation, the matching system is reversed, because the primary concern is donor plasma antibodies vs. recipient RBC antigens as opposed to donor antigen vs. recipient antibodies (as with whole blood.)
Edit:
note that the above are just general rules. In most instances, blood is not transfused unless it is both type- and cross-matched. In this situation, the blood transfused is of the same type as the donor's blood (type-matched). The blood is also cross-matched, which is to say that a sample of the recipient's blood was combined with a sample of type-matched potential donor blood to ensure that the two samples did not agglutinate which would indicate a hemolytic reaction which could be harmful or even deadly to the recipient. If the two samples do not show agglutination, then they are compatible and the cross-matched donor blood can be transfused.
The only potential time that this process of cross-matching would not be performed is under specific request by a physician in a dire emergency where blood products are needed immediately. Generally speaking, blood can still be type-matched as tests for blood type take only a few seconds and require only a very small amount of blood. O- is only given as a "universal donor" in very rare instances.