After a positive antibody screen, what is the next step in transfusion planning?

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When an antibody screen is positive, the immediate goal is to identify exactly which alloantibody is present. This is done using panel cells—red cells with known antigen profiles—to determine the specificity of the antibody. Knowing the specific antibody tells you which red cell antigens to avoid in donor units, so you can select units that are negative for that antigen and prevent a hemolytic transfusion reaction. Relying on ABO typing alone won’t catch non-ABO antibodies that can cause incompatibilities, and ignoring the positive screen or transfusing blindly would be unsafe. After identifying the alloantibody, you then proceed to obtain antigen-negative donor units and perform appropriate crossmatching to confirm compatibility.