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My husband just got blood work done for his upcoming surgery and was told he has Anti E . So I gather that if he needs a transfusion they need to be careful to give him a specific type of blood that is antigen negative. I was wondering how this might affect any future pregnancies of ours? Does anyone have any knowledge of this?
Hi teme,
I worked in the blood transfusion field for 13 years :) You are right that if he needs a tranfusion he will need to have specially matched antigen negative blood, but you will be happy to know this antibody (or any other red cell antibody) in the male partner will have no effect on any future pregnancies. It would only be an issue in pregnancy if it was you that had the antibody, and even then it would not necessarily be a problem either.
All the best :)
Thank you for your reply! I guess when I get more blood work done I will inquire with my Dr. to see if I carry the antibody. I hope it is rare! Anyway I have a question about transfusion. Given my husbands status and the fact that he will be undergoing brain surgery in a couple of weeks what can we do to ensure they have the right blood for him. He has had 2 other brainsurgeries over the last 12 years and has received transfusions before. We just want to know if we should be informing certain people. And is the antigen negative blood easy to get for him. JUst a little worried and want everything to go well! Thank you for your reply!
BTW he is anti E
teme, the most important thing is to make sure that your DH's surgeon (and anaesthetist too if you can) knows that he has a red cell antibody. That way they can organise to have blood taken from him and sent to the lab prior to his surgery so that they can match up some blood just in case he needs a tranfusion. I imagine most labs would do the same, but my lab's policy was to have a couple of units of blood in the fridge ready to go for any patients with a red cell antibody having surgery. E negative blood is relatively common, so finding matching blood for him won't be a big problem.
As for you having the antibody, you can't "catch" it from him. The only way you can get an antibody like this is through blood transfusion (which is probably where he got it) or pregnancy/childbirth. So by all means get your blood checked if you are worried, as there is a tiny chance you could have an antibody from your ectopic, but more than likely they'll find nothing :) And it is routine to screen pg women for red cell antibodies early in the pregnancy anyway, so even if you don't have it done now, it will be done when you are pg again.
I hope your DH's surgery goes well :hug: It must be very stressful for you :(
Thank you very much for all your info it has helped us out tremendously! We are stressed right now but are looking forward to TTC as soon as we can after Dh has recover from his surgery. THis has been a rough year so we are looking forward to a brighter future!
Hi Teme,
What about asking the doctors about cell salvage? it's a process that does not use transfusion but rather uses the patients own blood by draining it out to a storage 'tank' as such and then cleans it and returns it to the body. The patient recovers much quicker and therefore there is no risk of unsafe or the wrong type of blood being used.
Australian hospitals are being trained in this method but not generally offered to you unless you know about it and ask for it!
Teme, I got Anti-E after my PPH blood transfusion. It is exceptionally rare (Less than 1% of the population I was told at the time) and yes it makes transfusion time extremely iffy. Your DH will be given an Antibody card he will need to keep on him at all times. In the event of surgery that usually requires 'stock up' we are encouraged to self donate 2 weeks in advance.
My DH is not Anti-E, and despite this I have now carried 3 healthy kids to term. One isn't born yet but she is term and coming any day. Even with it, complications are rare. I get a couple of extra blood tests to check my titer level and if it becomes concerning I get Ultrasounds weekly to check the blood flow through babies brain. If that became concerning then I knew for a fact I would have been taken straight from there to somewhere they could get bub out ASAP. Harry was the only one that the titer moved on and his was a spontaneous labour with a perfectly healthy terror tot at the other end.
It did scare the bejesus out of me at first, but now I am more at ease with it because anti-e complications are so so rare.
Just to clarify, this is correct, the anti-E antibody itself is relatively rare. Finding E negative blood however, which is what you need to do to provide compatible blood for transfusion, is not a major problem as approximately 52% of the Australian population are E negative - sourced from the Australian Red Cross Blood Service website.:
Just wanted to reassure you teme, that finding compatible blood for your DH won't be a big problem ;) Yes it will take a bit longer than for a person with no antibody, but with some notice it is quite easy for a lab to do.
All the best :)
Thanks again for the reassurance. I actually called the transfusion department today to inquire about banking DH blood and the assured me that they will have no problem finding the right blood for him. The lady also said brain surgery is not a surgery that typically needs blood. She was very sweet as I sobbed on the phone. I am thankful for all the info you have given me and that you took the time to clarify the info. It means more then you know!:D
Yeah! I was just told that as it "avoids any future potential mix ups" like the one that caused my Antibody in the first place. It actually does kind of upset me because I remember they took blood to do a FBC before the transfusion (as if I hadnt just hemorrhaged enough all over the bed) and still got it wrong. It could well have been my hospital covering its backside again. :rolleyes::