What is the primary purpose of pretransfusion testing?

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The main idea is to ensure compatibility between the patient and the blood product to prevent the immune system from attacking transfused red cells. This starts with ABO and Rh(D) typing to establish basic compatibility, followed by an antibody screen to detect any clinically significant antibodies in the recipient that could react with donor cells. If an antibody is found, antibody identification is used to pinpoint its specificity so that units lacking the corresponding antigen can be chosen. A crossmatch then confirms that the selected donor unit will not react with the patient’s serum before transfusion. Taken together, these steps reduce the risk of immune-mediated transfusion reactions and alloimmunization. Infectious disease screening of donor blood is essential for safety, but it falls under donor-unit safety rather than the compatibility testing described here; selecting units by high hemoglobin or checking blood pressure are not the purposes of pretransfusion testing.