Blood typing

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Erythroblastosis fetalis, photomicrograph

Overview

Risks

Results

Blood typing

Alternative Names:

Cross matching; Rh typing; ABO blood typing

What the risks are:

Fainting or feeling light-headed
Multiple punctures to locate veins
Excessive bleeding
Hematoma (blood accumulating under the skin)
Infection (a slight risk any time the skin is broken)

Special considerations:

There are many antigens besides the major ones (A, B, and Rh). Many minor antigens are not routinely detected during blood typing. If allowed to go unrecognized, they can initiate a blood transfusion reaction, usually of less magnitude than that of a major blood group incompatibility.

These minor antigens can be detected by cross-matching, which consists of incubating the recipient's serum with the donor's red blood cells (RBCs) in a saline solution followed by the addition of Coombs serum (see Coombs' test - indirect).

Review Date: 8/16/2004
Reviewed By: Stephen Grund, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of Hematology & Oncology and Director of the George Bray Cancer Center at New Britain General Hospital, New Britain, CT. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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