What is the purpose of crossmatching donor units?

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Multiple Choice

What is the purpose of crossmatching donor units?

Crossmatching donor units checks whether the recipient has antibodies in their plasma that could react with the donor red blood cells, going beyond just ABO compatibility. The test mixes recipient plasma with donor red cells and looks for agglutination or hemolysis. If the mix shows no reaction, the donor unit is considered compatible; if a reaction occurs, it indicates antibodies against donor antigens, and a different unit (lacking the corresponding antigen) should be used. This helps prevent immune-mediated transfusion reactions that ABO typing alone wouldn’t catch. Infectious disease testing and antibody screening of the recipient are separate steps and crossmatching does not replace antibody screening.

Crossmatching donor units checks whether the recipient has antibodies in their plasma that could react with the donor red blood cells, going beyond just ABO compatibility. The test mixes recipient plasma with donor red cells and looks for agglutination or hemolysis. If the mix shows no reaction, the donor unit is considered compatible; if a reaction occurs, it indicates antibodies against donor antigens, and a different unit (lacking the corresponding antigen) should be used. This helps prevent immune-mediated transfusion reactions that ABO typing alone wouldn’t catch. Infectious disease testing and antibody screening of the recipient are separate steps and crossmatching does not replace antibody screening.

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