Hyderabad: In what could be an incredible tale of blood, doctors at the SLG Hospitals in Bachupally successfully saved the life of a pregnant woman using the rarest-of-of-the-rare Bombay blood group, on Sunday.
She had reportedly developed a rare condition while she was nine-weeks pregnant in an abnormal location, the fallopian tube.
“The patient had a rare blood group, ‘Bombay blood group’ and this is not available in blood banks usually,” Dr Suvarna Rai, consultant obstetrician at SLG hospitals said. “This blood group is found in a rare one out of 10,000 individuals and it is estimated that only 15 to 20 people of this blood group are available in Hyderabad.”
The Bombay blood group presents itself as either O+ve or O-ve blood group, and it only shows Bombay blood group upon detailed enquiry, she said.
“Hypothetically speaking, when the first test shows O+ve or O-ve and it is administered, the patient rejects it. The blood clots, confirmation that the patient has a rare blood group,” said Dr Rai. People of this blood group are universal donors but cannot accept any blood type other than Bombay Blood group. When the 39-year-old woman was hospitalised, her fallopian tube ruptured leading to “torrential” bleeding inside the abdomen and necessitating immediate surgery.
“Such a condition mandates transfusion of blood in large quantities to neutralise blood loss,” she said.
“However, ‘Bombay blood group’, is not available in any blood bank. The patient was given ‘plasma volume expanders’ as a substitute to maintain desired levels, along with iron-enhancing injections to ensure her condition did not deteriorate rapidly,” Dr Suvarna Rai added. “In the surgical procedure, the doctors removed her ruptured fallopian tube to minimise further blood loss, knowing the blood transfusion would be a major challenge,” she said.
Post-surgery the patient has been kept under watch by experts who will monitor her road to recovery, which is expected to happen within two weeks. The Bombay Blood group enigma has been the key element of movies, most recently in Vidya Balan’s Kahaani (2012) and the 2007 Telugu film Okkadunnadu.
