Transfusion medicine in a developing country - alloantibodies to red blood cells in multi-transfused patients in Saudi Arabia.

Background: Multiple transfusions are frequently complicated by alloimmunization. This retrospective study aims to determine whether alloimmunization could be accounted for by racial differences between donors and recipients.

Materials And Methods: The development of alloantibodies were determined in 68 multi-transfused patients (thalassaemia, n=38) and (sickle cell anemia, n=30).

Results: The overall frequency of alloantibody formation in our patients is 22.06%. Thirteen patients received blood from the same ethnic group (Arab) and none developed antibodies, while of 47 patients who received multi-ethnic blood, 10 developed alloantibodies.

Conclusions: Alloantibodies formation can be reduced by limiting the transfusion of RBC, collected from donors of the same ethnic origin.