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Contamination of Cord Blood with Maternal Blood During Delivery
Author(s) -
Milam J. D.,
Reeves A. E.,
Bush R. W.,
Gardner H. L.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
transfusion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.045
H-Index - 132
eISSN - 1537-2995
pISSN - 0041-1132
DOI - 10.1111/j.1537-2995.1974.tb04528.x
Subject(s) - cord blood , medicine , umbilical cord , abo blood group system , placenta , cord , obstetrics , agglutination (biology) , pregnancy , physiology , immunology , surgery , fetus , biology , antibody , genetics
Mixed field agglutination was observed during the ABO grouping of two infants and in the Rh typing of another when using cord blood. Retyping of the babies' blood was performed with blood obtained by heel stick. Kleihauer stains were performed on cord blood smears in two cases. The additional studies revealed that the cord was contaminated with maternal blood in each case. It is postulated that contamination may occur by either of two mechanisms: 1) Maternal blood on the exterior of the umbilical cord may inadvertently drip into the collection container; or 2) during labor maternal blood may enter cord vessels because of retroplacental hemorrhage and rents in the placenta. Cord blood mixed with maternal blood may lead to mistyping of the infant, and because of the absence of preformed alloagglutinins in the newborn misgrouping may not be detected by compatibility testing.