Blood, 1953, Vol. 8, No. 11, pp. 1029-1033.
© 1953 American Society of Hematology, Inc.
Fatal Transfusion Reaction Due to the Kell Factor
F. OTTENSOOSER M.D., PH.D.1,
O. MELLONE M.D.1, and
A. BIANCALANA M.D.1
1 Hospital das Clínicas, University of São Paulo, and the Laboratório Paulista de
Biologia, São Paulo, Brazil.
A woman of type B, M, Rh1rh was transfused with blood of the same blood
groups, but no direct compatibility tests were made. The patient developed a
violent hemolytic reaction, became anuric, and subsequently received four
compatible transfusions. The clinical course seemed satisfactory but after a
week she died suddenly from a cerebrovascular accident. The donor was Kell
positive and the patient Kell negative; the donor’s Kell positive cells had disappeared from her blood one day after the transfusion and her serum contained
incomplete Kell antibody.
The patient’s husband and four children were Kell negative, but she had
received twenty-three years previously, five transfusions from four donors.
Three of these donors were located, two of whom were Kell positive. In tests of
the patient’s serum with one hundred and eighty-two random bloods there were
fourteen or 7.7 per cent positive reactions, an incidence which is characteristic
of anti-Kell in caucasoids.
Submitted on April 1, 1953
Accepted on May 1, 1953
