Blood group check is a test procedure to find out what type of blood you have. Your blood type is determined by the genes you pass on from your parents. You can check your blood type at a hospital, clinic, or health center.
Blood type checks are important to do if at any time you need a blood transfusion or plan to donate blood. If you receive blood that does not match your blood type, a dangerous immune response can occur.
The blood group system that is commonly used is the ABO system (blood types A, B, AB, and O) whose classification is determined by the presence or absence of antigens on red blood cells. In addition, the blood group system must also be determined based on Rhesus (Rh positive or negative).
Benefits of Checking Blood Types to Prevent Transfusion Complications
Adjustment of blood type is one of the important requirements for donating blood or receiving blood transfusions. Not all blood types can match each other. Receiving blood that does not match your blood type can trigger blood clots and complications that can be fatal to the body.
Symptoms of a blood group discrepancy in the blood transfusion process include fever, chills, nausea, yellow skin and eyes, pain in the chest, stomach, or back, bloody urine, and shortness of breath. Complications of this reaction can include kidney failure or even death.
Benefits of Checking Blood Type for Pregnant Women
Determination of blood type is also important for pregnant women and the fetus they contain. The blood types of the mother and fetus with incompatible rhesus will potentially harm the fetus.
For example, a woman with an Rh negative blood type marries an Rh positive man. The fetus that is conceived is most likely to be Rh positive blood type.
As a result, the body of a pregnant woman will perceive the blood of a fetus with a different rhesus as a foreign object and eventually form antibodies against the Rh antigen of the fetus, resulting in damage to the red blood cells of the fetus.
This condition can cause death in the womb or the baby is born with health problems.
Checking blood type from the start, even before marriage, can make it easier for doctors to prevent this condition, namely by giving special drugs. This drug will prevent the body of pregnant women from forming antibodies that can attack the baby's blood cells if their blood mixes.
Blood Type Check Procedures You Need to Know
In adults, the process of checking blood type is done by taking a blood sample through a puncture in the finger or through a needle inserted into a vein in the arm. While in infants, blood type examination is done by taking blood samples from the soles of the baby's feet.
After that, the laboratory staff will mix the blood sample with antibodies that attack blood types A and B to see the reaction as follows:
- If the blood sample clots when mixed with antibodies to type A blood, you have type A blood.
- If the blood sample clots when mixed with antibodies against type B blood, you have type B blood.
- If the blood sample clots when mixed with antibodies to blood types A, B, and AB, you have type AB blood.
- If the blood sample doesn't clot when mixed with any of the antibodies, you have type A blood.
The blood sample will then be mixed with anti-Rh serum. If your blood cells clump, it means you have Rhesus positive blood, and vice versa.
There is no special preparation that you have to do to do a blood type check. You can even get the results of the examination in just a few minutes.
In the process of checking blood type, the risk of procedures such as bleeding after taking blood is rare, unless you have a history of blood clotting disorders. Consult your doctor if you have certain health conditions before doing a blood type check.
