Patients with rare red cell requirements present a unique challenge to the blood system necessitating multidisciplinary collaboration to ensure patients' transfusion needs are met.
The provision of rare red cells involves the coordination of reference-level testing, rare donor recruitment and testing using new technology, and the management and distribution of rare liquid and frozen inventory nationally or internationally.
Matthew Yan, MD, will share the experience of the Rare Blood Program at Canadian Blood Services and provide an approach to the management of rare red cell cases.
Matthew Yan, MD
Dr. Matthew Yan is a hematologist who works as a medical officer for Canadian Blood Services (CBS) and as a transfusion medicine physician for Fraser Health Authority. He is the medical lead of the CBS Rare Blood Program, as well as the medical director of the CBS Diagnostic Services Laboratory in British Columbia. He is currently a clinical associate professor at the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of British Columbia and is the lead for the CBS Transfusion Medicine physician training program.