ANTIBODY STUDIES IN A PATIENT WITH ACUTE THROMBOCYTOPENIA FOLLOWING INFUSION OF PLASMA CONTAINING ANTI-PIA1

Immune thrombocytopenia due to passive transfer of anti-PIA1 alloantib ody has been noted as a rare but potentially dangerous complication of plasma transfusions, We report a patient with a preoperative platelet count of 241 x 10(9)/I who developed severe thrombocytopenia within 2 hr following transfusion of 2 U of fresh frozen plasma, The plasma do nor was found to be a PIA1-negative woman. The platelet count of the P IA1-positive patient recovered within 7 days to normal values. In the frozen plasma, excessive antibody binding to GPIIb-IIIa on the recipie nt's platelets was detected, The antibody was shown to have anti-PIA1- specificity. Only 40 min after transfusion of the frozen plasma, no an tibody was detected in the plasma of the recipient, This case suggests that passively administered anti-PIA1 alloantibody is immediately ads orbed onto the recipient's platelets and thus removed from circulation , (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.