Ristiinsovitusmenetelmä

Ristiinsovitusmenetelmä, known in English as cross-matching, is a laboratory procedure used to determine the compatibility of blood from a donor with the blood of a recipient. This is a critical step in blood transfusions and organ transplantation to prevent immune reactions.

The process involves taking a sample of the recipient's serum or plasma and a sample of the donor's red blood cells. These samples are then mixed under controlled laboratory conditions. If there is no reaction, such as clumping or hemolysis (rupture of red blood cells), it indicates that the donor's blood is compatible with the recipient's. A reaction, however, signifies the presence of antibodies in the recipient's blood that would attack the donor's red blood cells, leading to a potentially life-threatening transfusion reaction.

Ristiinsovitusmenetelmä is typically performed in two phases: a major crossmatch and a minor crossmatch. The major crossmatch checks for antibodies in the recipient's serum that could react against the donor's red blood cells. The minor crossmatch checks for antibodies in the donor's serum that could react against the recipient's red blood cells, though this is less common as the volume of donor serum is much smaller than the recipient's blood volume. In organ transplantation, a similar crossmatch procedure is performed between the donor's cells and the recipient's serum to assess the risk of antibody-mediated rejection.