Blood Group

Why test for Blood Group at Symbion VIP Diagnostics, Ahmedabad ?

Why blood typing is done
Blood typing is done prior to a blood transfusion or when classifying a person’s blood for donation. Blood typing is a fast and easy way to ensure that you receive the right kind of blood during surgery or after an injury. If you’re given incompatible blood, it can lead to blood clumping, or agglutination, which can be fatal.

Blood typing is especially important for pregnant women. If the mother is Rh-negative and the father is Rh-positive, the child will likely be Rh-positive. In these cases, the mother needs to receive a drug called RhoGAM. This drug will keep her body from forming antibodies that may attack the baby’s blood cells if their blood becomes mixed, which often happens during pregnancy.

There are four main blood groups (types of blood) – A, B, AB and O. Your blood group is determined by the genes you inherit from your parents.

Each group can be either RhD positive or RhD negative, which means in total there are eight main blood groups.

There are four main blood groups defined by the ABO system:

• blood group A – has A antigens on the red blood cells with anti-B antibodies in the plasma
• blood group B  – has B antigens with anti-A antibodies in the plasma
• blood group O  – has no antigens, but both anti-A and anti-B antibodies in the plasma
• blood group AB  – has both A and B antigens, but no antibodies

Receiving blood from the wrong ABO group can be life threatening. For example, if someone with group B blood is given group A blood, their anti-A antibodies will attack the group A cells.

This is why group A blood must never be given to someone who has group B blood and vice versa.

As group O red blood cells don't have any A or B antigens, it can safely be given to any other group.

The Rh system
Red blood cells sometimes have another antigen, a protein known as the RhD antigen. If this is present, your blood group is RhD positive. If it's absent, your blood group is RhD negative.

This means you can be one of eight blood groups:

• A RhD positive (A+)
• A RhD negative (A-)
• B RhD positive (B+)
• B RhD negative (B-)
• O RhD positive (O+)
• O RhD negative (O-)
• AB RhD positive (AB+)
• AB RhD negative (AB-)

In most cases, O RhD negative blood (O-) can safely be given to anyone. It's often used in medical emergencies when the blood type isn't immediately known.

It's safe for most recipients because it doesn't have any A, B or RhD antigens on the surface of the cells, and is compatible with every other ABO and RhD blood group.

The laboratory test results are NOT to be interpreted as results of a "stand-alone" test. The test results have to be interpreted after correlating with suitable clinical findings and additional supplemental tests/information. Your healthcare providers will explain the meaning of your tests results, based on the overall clinical scenario. For further information about these lab tests contact Symbion VIP Diagnostics pathology lab Ahmedabad at 09429410291