Blood Group System: Clinical Insight and Relevance in Medical Practice

Purpose: Thirty three blood group systems have recently received recognition from the International Society of Blood Transfusion. Numerous types of antigens have been found on the red cell membranes in addition to the ABO and Rhesus systems. One of the few significant tests that the anesthesiologist orders during the perioperative period is blood grouping and cross matching. To avoid difficulties associated with transfusions, it is crucial to have a thorough awareness of the blood group system, their clinical importance, typing and cross-matching tests and current implications. To explore the various blood group systems, their clinical significance, and their relevance in medical practice, including transfusion medicine, prenatal care and genetic testing Methodology: Relevant databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar and Scopus to search for literature related to blood group system were used for this study. Search strategy including keywords related to barium studies, cross-sectional imaging and low resource economies. This may include terms such as blood group system, ABO blood group, clinical significance, medical practice. Search terms in combination with Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) are used to retrieve relevant articles. Findings: Undoubtedly blood group systems is highly relevant in medical practice so as to prevent haemolytic transfusion reaction and alloimmunization of individual blood which can result to death of infants and other individuals. As beneficial as blood transfusion is blood group system of the donor and recipient must be identified to make the blood transfusion process safe. Blood group systems also gives clinical insights in medical practice which make disease diagnosis and treatment easier to approach. Recommendations: Health care providers should be trained to properly identify and type blood samples and blood banks should have appropriate quality control measures in place to ensure the accuracy of blood typing and cross matching. Healthcare providers involved in organ transplantation should be familiar with the blood group compatibility guidelines and communicate effectively with blood banks to ensure the availability of compatible donor organs.