NURS 3112 Chapter Notes - Chapter 20: Compression Stockings, Dietitian, Teratology
14 Sep 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Care of the woman at risk due to abo incompatibility. Abo incompatibility is somewhat common (occurring in 15% to25% of pregnancies) but rarely causes significant hemolysis. In most cases, abo incompatibility is limited to type o mothers with a type a or b fetus. The group b fetus of a group a mother and the group a fetus of a group b mother are only occasionally affected. Group o infants, because they have no antigenic sites on the rbcs, are never affected regardless of the mother"s blood type. The incompatibility occurs as a result of the maternal antibodies present in her serum and interaction between the antigen sites on the fetal rbcs. Anti-a and anti-b antibodies are naturally occurring; that is, women are naturally exposed to the a and b antigens through the foods they eat and through exposure to infection by gram-negative bacteria. As a result, some women have high serum anti-a and anti-b titers before they become pregnant.
