A unique delivery, containing thawed blood, arrived by international carrier to treat a 59-year-old patient from Canada with a devastating rare blood disease called severe aplastic anemia. In addition to severe aplastic anemia, the patient also had an extremely rare antibody in her blood that attacked a specific red cell antigen that appears in 99% of people's blood.
The Canadian facility did not have a match for this rare blood type, so she received blood that had the antigen which resulted in a poor response and serious adverse reactions to the transfusions. Due to the complicated situation, she was referred to the NIH Clinical Center. However, NIH did not have suitable blood match for this patient either. Dr. Jamal Carter, a clinical fellow with the Department of Transfusion Medicine, and Marina Bueno, a technical specialist in the Immunohematology Reference Laboratory, contacted outside blood donation organizations for a match. In December 2016, within 24 hours of its departure from a blood donation center in Germany, two units of rare blood arrived for the patient.
Reflecting on the experience, Dr. Willy Flegel, chief of the NIH Laboratory Services Section noted, "This trans-Atlantic collaboration worked out very well... to ensure the patient's care and safety." The patient's clinical status soon improved dramatically, and she has since stopped requiring regular transfusions.