Blood typing

Alternative names:

ABO blood typing; cross matching; Rh typing

What the risks are:

• fainting or feeling lightheaded
• multiple punctures to locate veins
• excessive bleeding
• hematoma (blood accumulating under the skin)
• infection (a slight risk any time the skin is broken)

Special considerations:

Many minor antigens are not routinely detected during blood typing. If allowed to go unrecognized, they can initiate a blood transfusion reaction of less magnitude than that of a major blood group incompatibility. These minor antigens can be detected by cross-matching, which consists of incubating the recipient's serum with the donor's red blood cells (RBCs) in a saline solution followed by the addition of Coombs serum (see Coombs' test, indirect).