P1620: red cell alloimmunization in multi-transfused turkish patients with hematologic disorders.

Background: The red blood cell (RBC) alloimmunization rate varies with underlying disorder among genetic diversity of the population and environmental influences. Aims: The aim of this study was to determine the RBC alloimmunization rate in multi-transfused patients with hematological disorders in Turkey as a country with different ethnic groups covering a mixture of European and Asian DNA. Methods: The study was designed retrospectively. The research group consists 148 newly diagnosed hematological malignancy patients as candidates for multiple transfusion. Pre-transfusion tests included indirect anti-globulin test (IAT) with gel centrifugation among ABO Rh blood grouping and cross-match. Antibody identification test was applied to patients with positive IAT after direct antiglobulin tests was found to be negative. Results: Of the 148 patients 53.4% (n=79) were male and 46.6% (n=69) were female. The mean age of the patients was 53.03±17.78. IAT proved to be in 22 patients (14.9%) positive. In 6 of them alloantibody determining test was not performed (not ordered by the clinician). In 9 patients alloantibody type could not be determined. In the remaining’s (43.8%) the most frequent alloantibody types were against Rh antigens and anti-E was found to the most common encountered (12.5%) antibody. In three patients, more than one antibody type was detected. Summary/Conclusion: Our study is from the largest city from Istanbul as a tertiary hospital in Turkey. Apart of different antigenic exposure and microenvironment of underlying disorder, the general ethnic background of the country may be an influencer for the results. New molecular researchs including HLA and immune response analysis would be more definitely clear the alloimmunization development.