Shamee Shastry: Sometimes the Answer is Not in the Test Tube Alone, but at the Patient’s Bedside
Shamee Shastry, Professor and Head of the Department of Immunohematology and Blood Transfusion at Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, shared on LinkedIn about a recent article she and her colleagues co-authored, published in Transfusion, adding:
“Some cases stay with you forever.
I still remember the first patient with a snake bite-associated ABO discrepancy that landed on my desk.
A young O RhD-positive patient showed an unusual finding: an isolated absence of expected anti-A antibodies.
We applied every standard resolution technique we knew, yet the discrepancy persisted.
Curiosity took over. I went to the bedside, obtained a detailed history, dove deep into the literature, and even collected the residual anti-snake venom that had been administered. What followed was a fascinating experiment that ultimately solved the mystery.
What made this experiment even more rewarding was its broader impact. Following the publication of this case report, this phenomenon was recognized and included in the AABB Technical Manual as one of the causes of unexpected problems in plasma and serum ABO testing, contributing to greater awareness among transfusion medicine professionals.
That case taught me an important lesson: sometimes the answer is not in the test tube alone, but at the patient’s bedside.”
Title: A rare case of missing antibody due to anti-snake venom
Authors: Shamee Shastry, Sudha S. Bhat, Karandeep Singh
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