The likelihood of a clinically significant hemolytic transfusion reaction from administration of type-specific blood is less than which of the following?

The likelihood of a clinically significant hemolytic transfusion reaction from administration of type-specific blood is less than which of the following?

• A. 1 in 10
• B. 1 in 250
• C. 1 in 500
• D. 1 in 1000

Answer: (D)

The key idea is that proper pretransfusion testing with type-specific blood and crossmatching greatly reduces the risk of a clinically significant hemolytic transfusion reaction. When the donor and recipient are correctly matched for ABO and Rh and the recipient’s antibodies are checked against the donor blood, the chance that the transfused red cells are rapidly destroyed is very small. In practice, this risk is typically well under 0.1%, i.e., less than one in a thousand transfusions. The other given risk levels imply a much higher rate than what modern compatibility testing yields, so the safest, most accurate statement is that such a reaction is less than one in a thousand.

The key idea is that proper pretransfusion testing with type-specific blood and crossmatching greatly reduces the risk of a clinically significant hemolytic transfusion reaction. When the donor and recipient are correctly matched for ABO and Rh and the recipient’s antibodies are checked against the donor blood, the chance that the transfused red cells are rapidly destroyed is very small. In practice, this risk is typically well under 0.1%, i.e., less than one in a thousand transfusions. The other given risk levels imply a much higher rate than what modern compatibility testing yields, so the safest, most accurate statement is that such a reaction is less than one in a thousand.