Search

Objective: To determine the frequency of Blood Group A2 genotype among Group A Pakistani whole blood donors. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Armed Forces Institute of Transfusion (AFIT), Rawalpindi Pakistan, from Jan 2019 to Jan 2020. Methodology: One thousand (1000) healthy and unrelated blood donors were selected. The blood samples were typed for ABO, and those of Blood Groups-A and AB were further subtyped with the help of anti-A1 lectin to categorize them as A1, non-A1, A1B and non-A1B Groups. Next, DNA of non-A1 samples was extracted, and a Polymerase Chain Reaction using sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP) for type A2 was performed, followed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). Results: Among one thousand blood donors, 247(24.7%) were typed as Blood Group-A, 94(9.4%) as AB-Group, 339(33.9%) B-Group and 320(32%) O Group with variable strength of reaction with ABO antisera. A and AB Blood Groups were further subgrouped as A1 202(20.2%), A1B 77(7.7%), non-A1 45(4.5%) and non-A1B 17(1.7%). Anti-A1 antibodies were detected in 6(13.3%) of non-A1 samples. PCR of non-A1 samples showed 32(12.9%) to be genotypically A2, and the remaining 13(5.2%) were not A2 and were not further resolved. Conclusion: Blood Group A2 is not a rare Subgroup in our population. PCR-SSP is a more specific technique than anti-A1 lectin for establishing the Blood Group status of an individual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Combination of ‘4Ts’ clinical scoring system and Particle gel immunoassay to determine the frequency of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia during heparin treatment in cardiac surgery patients. Study Design: Prospective observational study. Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted in the Pathology Department, Army Medical College in collaboration with Armed Forced Institute of Cardiology and Armed Forced Institute of Transfusion, Rawalpindi, from Jan 2019 to Dec 2019. Methodology: A total of 115 suspected cases of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia irrespective of age and gender were included in the study. A clinical scoring system the ‘4Ts’ was used for the classification of patients based on probability into three groups such as low, intermediate, and high probability groups. For the detection of antibodies against heparin/platelet factor 4 complexes, the Particle gel immunoassay was used. Results: There were 39 (33.9%) females and 76 (66.1%) males, the age range of 20 to 86 ± 12.9 years. Among the low probability group, there was no positive result, 2 (2.3%) patients showed positive serological evidence in the intermediate probability group. In the high probability group, 4 (23.5%) patients showed positive results with the chosen assay. Conclusion: Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia was found an overall 5.2% of patients undergoing cardiac surgery receiving unfractionated heparin. A combination of ‘4Ts’ pretest clinical scoring systems followed by PaGIA constitutes a simple strategy to screen for heparin-induced thrombocytopenia in suspected patients. This will avoid serious complications if the detection is not delayed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case report describes a patient with severe aplastic anaemia, who developed Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS) 10 weeks after allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) from HLA-matched sibling-younger sister. GBS was preceded by pneumonia, herpes labialis and oral candidiasis a week earlier. Treatment with ventilatory management, intravenous human immunoglobulin (IVIg) and antimicrobials resulted in smooth recovery in thirty-one days.