NHS<\/a> Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) said that blood matching is \u201cvital\u201d due to the complexity of blood groups, with there being\u00a0362 known to professionals.\n<\/p>\n\n So far,\u00a0scientists have DNA-tested the blood types of 77,000 donors as part of a research project.\n<\/p>\n
\n This is the first time that blood types have been DNA tested in the UK at scale, the NHSBT said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Dozens of rare blood donors have been identified during the process, and it is hoped the number will continue to rise.\n<\/p>\n
\n This means that blood from these donors can be used as a \u201cpersonalised, precision-matched transfusion\u201d for those in need.\n<\/p>\n
\n This can help avoid severe transfusion reactions \u2013 where the body sees the transfused blood as \u201cforeign\u201d and rejects it.\n<\/p>\n
People who are particularly at risk of these reactions are those who regularly receive blood donations, including those with sickle cell disorder and thalassaemia.<\/p>\n
\n Experts hailed the project as the \u201cfirst major step\u201d towards rolling out precision-matched blood more widely.\n <\/p>\n
\n Dr Gail Miflin, chief medical officer at NHSBT, said: \u201cTaking these 77,000 donors and testing their blood to such a precise level has been an incredible undertaking and will work to significantly change the way we issue blood \u2013 especially to those patients at higher risk of transfusion-related reactions.\n <\/p>\n
Recommended Reading:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe will be able to match to an increasing number of blood groups, ensuring that patients have blood that is most similar to their own and reducing the risk of any reactions. It is an example of just how we are driving innovation, which can radically improve patient outcomes.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n NHSBT\u2019s genomics programme director, Kate Downes, added: \u201cThis inventory of blood will enhance our capacity to find units with rare blood groups for difficult-to-match patients as well as provide better matched units for patients who have an increased risk of transfusion reactions, aiding us in our mission to save and improve even more lives.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThis genotyping is a first major step towards rolling out precision-matched blood more widely, which would be a landmark change in how blood is matched.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This “precision-matched\u201d blood will be collected and frozen so it can be used to help other people with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4316],"tags":[105,4348,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-296372","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114926295142110278","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}