Evaluation of Alloimmunization Rate and Necessity of Blood Type and Screening Test among Patients Candidate for Elective Surgery

INTRODUCTION: Alloimmunization is a reaction of the immune system to foreign antigens. For prevention of alloantibody formation, performing of type and screen test is necessary on a patient’s blood specimen as part of pre-transfusion testing. MATERIALS AND METHOD: In this cross-sectional study, type and screen test done for 1420 patients with elective surgery for detection of alloantibody in Imam Khomeini hospital in Ardabil. RESULTS: Prevalence of alloantibody in this population was 0.92% (13 patients) and 99.2% (1407 patients) showed no alloantibody in their serum. The most prevalent alloantibody was anti-K, anti-E and anti-c. No significant relationship observed between sex and alloimmunization rate. CONCLUSION: Performance of type and screen test play an important role in reducing the rate of alloimmunization, and also, could reduce the demands for blood reservation in hospital blood banks.