With the spread of general medical knowledge among the general public, we all know a little bit about blood types.
Most people believe that there are 4 main types of blood types: A, B, AB and O. Among them, AB blood type can receive any type of blood input, while O blood type can be delivered to anyone.
But this idea is rather one-sided.
Today we’re going to talk together about all the things you need to know about blood transfusions.
Who in history was the first to start blood transfusions on humans?
During the ancient Egyptian period, blood was considered to have magical powers, so princes and nobles often scrubbed their bodies with the blood of their captives in a vain attempt to drive away disease and keep them healthy in this way.
When Pope VIII of Rome was critically ill and in a coma, his doctors suggested drinking blood to save his life, and the ministers killed three healthy men in a row for the Pope to drink their blood, which resulted in the Pope’s death as well.
Since then, there have been cases of successful transfusion of blood from a reed pipe to a bleeding general, as well as cases of sheep’s blood, which is considered to have a “quiet character”, being transfused to the death of an irascible man. All these were bold attempts in the history of blood transfusion.
Until the 1880s, British obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Blundell for the rescue of hemorrhage patients for the first time to carry out between people transfusion attempts, from this time onwards, blood transfusion is gradually as a formal treatment program on the right track.
What are the blood type requirements for blood transfusion?
Human blood types are generally categorized as ABO and Rh.
(1) ABO blood group is divided into: A, B, AB and O blood groups.
ABO blood type, is named according to the name of the antigen:
The presence of A antigen in red blood cells is called A blood type;
If there is a B antigen in the red blood cells, it is called B blood type;
If both A and B antigens are present, it is called AB blood;
If it contains neither A nor B antigens, it is called type O blood.
Blood transfusion is certainly not a casual transfusion, and the requirements for transfusion are strictly adhered to: transfusion of blood of the same type.
Under normal circumstances, people with blood type A should be transfused with blood type A, and people with blood type B should be transfused with blood type B. If blood of other types is used, it will cause a transfusion reaction. If other types of blood are transfused, it will cause a transfusion reaction.
(2) Rh blood types are categorized into Rh-negative and Rh-positive blood, indicated as Rh (-) and Rh (+).
Although ABO and Rh are different types, they belong to the situation of “you have me and I have you”.
Rh blood groups are categorized according to the presence or absence of the D antigen on the red blood cell membrane (with D antigen, Rh-positive; without D antigen, Rh-negative).
In the ABO blood group, take blood type A as an example: if it contains A antigen, it is blood type A. If it also has D antigen, it is blood type A + Rh-positive blood.
The principle of blood transfusion for Rh blood group is also to transfuse blood of the same type, i.e. Rh-negative people can only receive Rh-negative blood.
Regardless of the blood type, ABO and Rh blood group cross-testing should be performed before transfusion. Once the wrong blood group is transfused, transfusion reactions such as chills, high fever, nausea, vomiting, etc. can be caused, and in severe cases, can be fatal.
What are universal blood and panda blood?
In daily life, what people call “universal blood” refers to O-type blood.
The reason why O-type blood is considered to be “universal blood” is that there is no A and B antigen on the red blood cells of O-type blood, so when the red blood cells of O-type blood are transfused to patients with A, B and AB blood types, they can be used to save the emergency temporarily. Therefore, it is common to use “washed red blood cells” of type O blood for transfusion to patients with blood types A, B and AB.
However, this concept is very incorrect, “universal blood” is actually not “universal”, but also very dangerous.
In O-type blood plasma, containing anti-A, anti-B antibodies, once the O-type blood plasma into the A, B, AB blood type patients, will immediately occur agglutination reaction, so that the recipient’s red blood cells have been seriously damaged and lead to hemolysis.
Therefore, it is prohibited to transfuse O-type plasma to recipients of other blood types.
It has also been said that people with blood type AB are “universal recipients”. This statement is not rigorous, the current clinical blood transfusion is the same type of blood transfusion.
The “panda blood” refers to Rh blood type Rh negative people. Because 99.7% of people in China are Rh-positive blood, so the rare Rh-negative blood is called “panda blood”.
Neonatal Rh hemolysis is a hemolytic disease caused by a mismatch between the mother’s and fetus’s blood types. Either parent with “panda blood” should receive medical advice before pregnancy to prevent hemolysis in the newborn.
What are the conditions that require blood transfusion?
Blood transfusion usually refers to the intravenous infusion of blood into a patient’s body and is widely used in clinical practice. Nowadays, blood transfusion generally refers to component blood: suspended red blood cells, concentrated red blood cells, red blood cells with fewer leukocytes, washed red blood cells, fresh frozen plasma, platelets, cold precipitate, albumin, and so on.
However, not all patients are eligible for blood transfusion, which also requires indications:
1、Acute hemorrhage patients should be immediately transfused to prevent shock. For example, open massive bleeding caused by trauma or internal bleeding, etc..
2、Patients with severe anemia such as hematological diseases and poor hematopoietic ability should be treated with blood transfusion before subsequent examination.
3、Patients who are expected to bleed a large amount during surgery should generally have blood prepared before surgery to prevent massive blood loss during surgery.
4、Chronic anemia with hypoxic symptoms, hemoglobin <60g/L or erythrocyte pressure area <0.2 can be considered for red blood cell transfusion.
In conclusion, blood group cross-testing must be done before blood transfusion, and blood transfusion should be transfused with the same type of blood; appropriate transfusion methods (component blood or plasma) should be selected according to the specific conditions of different patients, and attention should be paid to the speed of transfusion, and at the same time, close attention should be paid to the recipients to see if there are any adverse reactions to blood transfusion, and if any adverse reaction occurs, the transfusion must be stopped immediately for treatment.