![]() ![]() There is no time to Group and Cross-Match! Blood must be given at once to prevent death! If Grouping and Cross-Matching is the gold-standard and ideal, it is not just so straightforward, or even possible, when a serious trauma (or some other major, rapid, bleeding problem) occurs - in such circumstances medics have only a few minutes to decide whether or not to immediately transfuse blood that a life might be saved. That is why, usually, prior to transfusion, the safest approach is for Blood Types to be (mandatorily) both Grouped and Cross-Matched. The basic system of Blood Groups is divided into 4 (omitting the Rhesus Factor): Group A has Antigen A, Group B has Antigen B, Group AB has both Antigens A and B, and, last of all, the most common Blood Group O, has no Antigens at all - an amazing fact, and a genius stroke, of our Creator Christ (as we shall shortly see).Īgain, at the risk of being overly simplistic, it is this very system which means that, if blood types are mixed when transfused into a patient, an antibody reaction is s-sparked - it usually has catastrophic effects: transfused red cells dissolve, chemicals are released, blood pressure drops and kidneys pack up, with the usual outcome death. ![]() Yet, not even this made me stand back and sit up this week: rather, it is the related issue of surface molecules on Red Blood Cells - called Antigens - which determine Red Cell Blood Groups. these streamline, biconcave, discs, with maximum surface-to-volume ratio, are packed with iron-bearing proteins otherwise known as oxygen-loaded hemoglobin (if I have oversimplified things too much please accept my apologies in advance). My focus, however, has been on the humble Red Blood Cells: that component of the vascular system, designed by God for the function of gas-exchange. I could write for hours on platelets - those little, sticky, microscopic, discs that plug holes in veins so that we don't bleed to death from knife-cuts or pin-pricks.Īlternatively, thirteen biochemical factors which contribute to the cascade of clot-formation would have me wax lyrical before I arrived at the Compliment system.Īgain, the breathless brilliance of plasma, and an immunological system of hungry phagocytes, antibody-factory lymphocytes, not to mention killer-T cells of infinite complexity, all serve to expose "by chance" thinking as naïve, ignorant, ridiculous, hollow, insubstantial and blind. In recent days I've been thinking lots on blood - the oxygen-carriage method in the stupendous, miraculous, circulatory system is a fearful wonder of the Creator. 20 March 2021 / The Blood of Christ / Andrew Kerr The Glory of Blood
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