Immunohistochemical detection of an ABO-incompatible blood transfusion in formalin-fixed tissue.

A fatal incident of an ABO incompatible erythrocyte transfusion in a 75-year-old male patient who suffered from dilated cardiomyopathy with cardiac failure is reported. Blood group A red cells were transfused to the unintended recipient who had blood group O. The patient died 45 min after the incompatible erythrocyte transfusion. The way the incident happened remained unclear and the immunohistochemical detection of ABO incompatible erythrocytes in formaldehyde-fixed paraffin-embedded kidney, lung, liver and spleen tissue provided the only material evidence of the transfusion error.