What is crossmatching?

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Multiple Choice

What is crossmatching?

Crossmatching is a pretransfusion compatibility test that checks whether donor red blood cells will be tolerated by the recipient’s immune system. It involves testing donor red cells with the recipient’s plasma (major crossmatch) and, in some settings, testing donor plasma against the recipient’s red cells (minor crossmatch). The aim is to detect any antibodies in the recipient that could react with donor antigens and cause a transfusion reaction, ensuring the unit is safe beyond basic ABO compatibility. It’s not a genetic blood-type test, it doesn’t assess platelet function, and ABO typing alone wouldn’t reveal antibodies to other red cell antigens that crossmatching can uncover.

Crossmatching is a pretransfusion compatibility test that checks whether donor red blood cells will be tolerated by the recipient’s immune system. It involves testing donor red cells with the recipient’s plasma (major crossmatch) and, in some settings, testing donor plasma against the recipient’s red cells (minor crossmatch). The aim is to detect any antibodies in the recipient that could react with donor antigens and cause a transfusion reaction, ensuring the unit is safe beyond basic ABO compatibility. It’s not a genetic blood-type test, it doesn’t assess platelet function, and ABO typing alone wouldn’t reveal antibodies to other red cell antigens that crossmatching can uncover.

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