1.6 | Blood Fusion

Blood transfusion

the infusion of a recipient with a donor’s blood cells. It is a commonly performed medical procedure used in many clinical situations such as surgery, trauma, anemia, and blood loss.

type A blood

• People with type A blood have A antigens and so produce anti-B antibodies.

type B blood

• People with type B blood have B antigens and so produce anti-A antibodies.

type O blood

• People with type O blood have neither A nor B antigens and so produce anti-A and anti-B antibodies.

type AB blood

• People with type AB blood have both A and B antigens and so produce neither anti-A nor anti-B antibodies.

Rh-positive

People with Rh-positive blood do not produce anti-Rh antibodies

Rh-negative

• People with Rh-negative blood do produce anti-Rh antibodies.

If the blood type has a positive sign (+)

• it can donate only to positive blood types

• but it can receive from both positive and negative blood types. 

• The specific match will still depend on whether the type is A, B, AB, or O.

• (+) can give to (+) only, but receive from both (+) and (-).

If the blood type has a negative sign (−)

• it can donate to both positive and negative blood types

• but it can receive only from negative blood types. 

• The specific match will still depend on whether the type is A, B, AB, or O.

• (-) can give to both (-) and (+), but receive from (-) only.

universal recipient

AB+ erythrocytes have all three antigens (A, B, and Rh), so their blood contains no antibodies that would bind to donor blood.

universal donor

O− erythrocytes have none of the three antigens, so there is nothing for any recipient’s antibodies to bind.

Positive (+) blood types

Can donate only to positive types but can receive from both positive and negative types.

Negative (-) blood types

Can donate to both positive and negative types but can receive only from negative types.

Who can receive RBCs?

• O negative receives: O negative only

• O positive receives: O positive, O negative

• A negative receives: A negative, O negative

• A positive receives: A positive, A negative, O positive, O negative

• B negative receives: B negative, O negative

• B positive receives: B positive, B negative, O positive, O negative

• AB negative receives: AB negative, A negative, B negative, O negative

• AB positive receives: all types

Who can donate RBCs to whom?

• O negative donates to: all types

• O positive donates to: O positive, A positive, B positive, AB positive

• A negative donates to: A negative, A positive, AB negative, AB positive

• A positive donates to: A positive, AB positive

• B negative donates to: B negative, B positive, AB negative, AB positive

• B positive donates to: B positive, AB positive

• AB negative donates to: AB negative, AB positive

• AB positive donates to: AB positive only