Prevalence of Kell Ag in Pregnant Women with Thalassemia Minor or Intermedia Beta in Medical Centers Affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in 2019-2020

Background: Kell Ag, the main antigen of kell system has the greatest antigenicity after Rh antigen and the associated antibodies are very important. These antibodies are mainly of the Ig G class and can cause side effects like Hemolytic disease of the Fetus and Newborn (HDFN) or Hemolytic Transfusion Reaction (HTR), especially in patients with chronic blood transfusions such as thalassemia patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate Kell antigen in pregnant women with thalassemia minor and intermedia and to determine the appropriate strategy for transfusion in this group of patients 
Methods: This study is a cross-sectional study on pregnant women with thalassemia minor or intermedia. The samples were taken from patients of Shahid Motahari clinic and those with positive antigen were selected and statistically analyzed. 
Results: The results showed that from the 64 patients who entered this study, the results of kell ag of 58 patients were negative and 6 were positive. Therefore, 91% of the pregnant women with beta thalassemia minor or intermedia were negative for ag kell and 9% were positive. 
Conclusion: In summary, the results of this study indicated that a large percentage of pregnant women with beta-thalassemia minor or intermediate are Kell-negative, and due to the complications of alloimmunization, screening of pack cells and pregnant patients is very important.