BACKGROUND: There is only little information on the transfusion support of 
patients with antibodies to high-frequency RBC antigens.
STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: In cooperation with reference laboratories and 
transfusion services in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, the transfusion 
support provided to hospitalized patients identified as having such antibodies 
was reviewed during a 20-month period.
RESULTS: A total of 52 patients with antibodies to high-frequency antigens were 
treated in hospitals. Twenty-two of them received 104 units of antigen-negative 
RBCs. In 23 cases, a deviation from the standard transfusion policy (e.g., 
transfusion of antigen-incompatible units) occurred. The use of frozen or fresh 
units varied amongst the different countries but did not affect the rate of 
deviation from protocol. About 20 percent of all units were supplied 
internationally. Four antibody specificities, anti-Kpb, anti-Vel, anti-Lub, and 
anti-Yta, were identified in two-thirds of the patients.
CONCLUSION: This survey indicated that transfusion support was unsatisfactory in 
about one-third of the hospitalized patients with antibodies to high-frequency 
antigens. Maintaining a rapidly accessible stock of just four types of rare 
blood units would ensure adequate transfusion support for most of these 
patients.