Korean J Blood Transfus.  1998 Jun;9(1):37-43.

Discrepant Frequency of Rh Subtype and Kell Blood Group Antigens between Korean Pregnant Women and Their Neonates

• Lee NY
• Suh JS
• Ryang DW
• Son HC
• Kwon KC
• Yoo BJ

Abstract

BACKGROUND
The causes of hemolytic disease of the newborn are discrepancies of ABO group, Rh(D) or other RBC antigens. The discrepancies of Rh subgroups except Rh(D) and K typing can be seen rarely. The clinical symptoms of those types are mild and most clinicians have no interest in them. However, there exist some serious cases that need exchange transfusion. For that, we detected Rh subgroup phenotyping and Kell typing in blood obtained from cord and pregnant women and the frequency of discrepancy.
METHODS
We examined the cord and mother's blood collected from 317 pregnant women from May to November, 1997. Rh(D) typing was done using slide method with anti-D (Dade, USA), and other Rh subgroup phenotyping using column agglutination test on MicroTyping system with Rh-K gel card (DiaMed, Switzerland). Irregular antibody screening was done in the cases of discrepancy. RESLUTS: The most frequent phenotype of Rh subgroup was CDe (41.3%) and then CcDEe (39.3%), but the K typing showed 0%. 90 cases of 317 pair-samples (28.4%) showed discrepancies between pregnant women and their neonates. The most frequent type of Rh discrepancy was c+E (50%) and then C or E (11.1%). 62 cord samples which obtained from neonates of Kyungpook and Chonnam provinces showed discrepancies, were all negative in the irregular antibody screening test.
CONCLUSIONS
Rh subgroup phenotyping and irregular antibody screening in cord blood by column agglutination test is thought to be helpful in early diagnosis and treatment of hemolytic disease of the newborn, as a sufficient amount of cord blood can be collected easily rather than neonatal blood.

Keyword

hemolytic disease of the newborn; Rh subgroup phenotyping; K typing; column agglutination test

MeSH Terms

Agglutination Tests
Blood Group Antigens*
Early Diagnosis
Female
Fetal Blood
Gyeongsangbuk-do
Humans
Infant, Newborn*
Jeollanam-do
Mass Screening
Phenotype
Pregnant Women*
Blood Group Antigens