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Anti Kell antibodies
Has anyone else got anti-K antibodies? I have but nobody is giving me a straight answer about what it means and what extra monitoring I require. Googling doesn't always help as I've read that it could mean the baby could need a blood transfusion in the womb. I'm 13 weeks, just had scan and consultant appointment but no further appointments until 23 weeks when I'm having a Doppler scan but consultant never said if this was for Anti-K or not. Surely I need more blood tests? Any advice welcome
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Hi, my children are 14 plus now but all 4 pregnancies were monitored rigorously because I had anti-kell antibodies. You should be having an amniocentesis to establish the babies blood type. If it's bad news, which I hope it isn't, you need regular checks, including scans. Because it only affected my 4th baby I was very aware when he stopped moving at 20 weeks gestation. I was seen promptly and the poor little thing had 5 blood transfusions between 20 and 32 weeks when he was then born by caesarean. He was jaundice and weak but home within 2 weeks and is now a gorgeous 14 year old.
Please get seen soon. Best of luck x
Hi Rachel, thanks for your reply. Only luck that I've seen it as I didn't get the email notification. A midwife called me a couple of weeks ago. Somehow she picked up that my first blood test wasn't done properly. It seems she is the only person in the hospital (or county!) who knows about anti-K. She says I will need a blood test every 4 weeks until 28 then every 2 weeks. She said worst case will be blood transfusion in womb and also says they won't let me go past EDD. She never mentioned an amnioscentesis, only says the blood tests check my levels of anti-K which will indicate whether all ok.
So glad your boy was OK! x
Hi. I have Kell antibodies. I too have looked for as much information as I can find.
It is hard to find info regarding this problem. Here is what I understand of the problem:
1. The Kell antibody can potentially cause more severe problems than those that arise due to the Rhesus factor (There is lots of information for the Rhesus problem on the internet). In severe cases the foetus' red blood cells cannot develop.
2. Unlike the Rhesus factor problem, there is no immunisation for the anti-Kell antibody. What this means is that the mother cannot be treated in order to protect the baby.
3. The most likely ways in which a woman becomes Kell sensitized are either as a result of a blood transfusion where the transfused blood was Kell positive and the woman Kell negative or through a previous pregnancy/delivery in which the baby was Kell positive.
4. Before the woman becomes sensitized there is no risk to a foetus which means that most first pregnancies dont show problems.
5. The unborn child is only in danger if he/she is Kell positive. If he/she does not have the Kell antigen in their blood then the mothers antibodies are not dangerous for the baby.
In my case...
Since my initial blood tests at around 6 weeks pregnant, I have been getting blood tests every 4 weeks of this pregnancy to monitor my titres for the anti-Kell antibody. You can read more about titres on the internet. Basically its a measurement done with your blood that gives an indication of whether your antibody levels are rising.
My specialist has told me that before 20weeks it is not expected to see an effect due to this antibody in the health of the unborn child.
There are various alternatives of how to deal with the issue. My understanding is that it is recommended to have blood tests every two weeks from early on to monitor the levels of the antibody.
It is possible to perform an amniocenthesis to determine whether the baby is Kell positive or negative however such a procedure is not without risks including miscarriage, not to mention it can result in mixing of the maternal blood with the fetal blood.
Hence, my specialist felt it was better to monitor my pregnancy closely with fortnightly MCA doppler scans and continued blood tests. If the baby were Kell positive this is how they would proceed anyway so rather than do such a risky procedure it is safer and extremely effective to perform these MCA doppler measurements and continue to monitor titres.
A number of measurements are taken at this fortnightly appointment. The technician not only looks at the blood flow to the placenta and in the umbilical cord but also looks at the flow of blood in the babys brain. It is my understanding that the speed of the blood flow in the middle cerebral artery of the foetus is an indication of whether the baby is anaemic or not.
If the baby proves to be anaemic and the doctors deem it necessary an intrauterine blood transfusion would be performed.
However I have also been told that in general they do not perform these after 32-34 weeks because after this it is deemed less risky to deliver the baby early than to perform an intrauterine blood transfusion.
I am not a medical doctor but I have tried to inform myself as well as possible. I also ask my doctor alot of questions!!
I hope that this information can help some people.
I would suggest that if you feel you are not getting the treatment you need that you look for a doctor that specialises in this problem. I also think that there is no reason not to send an email to a doctor in another country - if you come across the name of one that is very experienced with this problem.
Best of luck to everyone with this problem. I am hoping that my pregnancy will lead to a healthy baby <img src
sorry that should be blood tests every four weeks, not every two weeks. typo!!
how can they be sure the baby will not be affected before 20 weeks?
I am kell sensitized, meaning I carry antibodies against the Kell protein. I became Kell sensitized at the birth of my first son. My husband carries Kell (which we were not aware of) and my blood and my son’s (who also carries Kell) blood mixed caused the sensitization in me. We discovered I was Kell sensitized when I became pregnant with my second son through routine blood work at my OBGYN. My husband is heterozygous meaning each of our babies would have a 50/50 chance of being Kell positive. I went to high risk doctor for treatment and was advised that my options were an Amnio or to monitor by using MCA Doplers and if the baby becomes anemic then I would be sent to Baltimore for Inter-uterine blood transfusions. We were further advised to monitor the baby. We were seen at minimum bi-weekly for MCA Doplers and feel very luck that our second baby was not Kell positive and was delivery at 37 weeks happy and healthy. To our surprise we are pregnant again and consulted with the same antenatal testing center as we did with our second son, and they gave us the possibility of non-invasive prenatal testing to determine if our unborn baby carries the Kell mutation. My Perinatal Doctor spent days calling all over the country to find a lab that was doing non-invasive prenatal testing and called me to tell that he was struggling to find a lab willing to take on the testing but there was one possibility but the company needed some time to decide. We waited, hopeful that there would be somewhere to get this testing done in order to avoid an amnio. Our wish came true and my doctor called to tell us that there was a lab name RAVGEN in Columbia, Maryland who was willing to take our case. RAVGEN had never tested specifically for Kell but there paternal single gene mutation testing was similar enough to be confident that they would be able to determine if our baby was Kell positive or negative. They would take blood from me and would be able to get fetal DNA to compare my DNA, to the babies and my husbands. The catch was that we would need to go to Columbia, Maryland a few times and would need to be willing to commit to whatever the company would need from us for the testing. For my husband and I, we are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure the safety of this baby.
A few days later, my husband and I went up to Maryland to meet Dr. Dhallan (CEO of RAVGEN) and his team. Dr. Dallah and his team were friendly, informative and confident that they could provide us with very accurate testing. We don’t have our results yet, but have been up to Maryland twice to meet with Dr. Dhallan (Rav) and his team. We expect to have our test results within the next two weeks, just through blood work. Shortly, we will know if our little one is positive or negative without the risks of an amnio, an option that was not provided to us just two years earlier. We will not have to like the next 5 months with the unknown.
Dr. Dhallan is clearly passionate about his work and takes each case as a challenge and opportunity to learn more and solve more medical challenges. He shares his own medical and business journey which led him to starting RAVGEN. I highly recommend calling RAVGEN to explore non-invasive prenatal testing, the earlier you call in your pregnancy or before you are pregnant the better in order to allow him and his team the most amount of time possible for testing.
RAVGEN
http://www.ravgen.com/
Call for more information: (410) 715-2111
Im Anti Kell also. They should have done a blood test on the father of the baby as well to find out if he is Kell Positive. If he is then you have to worry about things. if he is not positive then you have nothing to worry about. If they didn't then your dr needs to. My husband is Positive so we have to worry. I am on my 13th pregnancy. I lost 8 but wasn't Anti Kell the whole time. I got it from a blood transfusion back in 2013 when I had my 6th loss. I lost 2 after and now pregnant again so far good and going strong. But Anti Kell doesn't matter about our blood as some drs will say. As far as the titer scores for our red blood cell. We have the worst one out of 5 Anti letters. So our red blood cells or antigens that are what cause the problems can go crazy at any given time. I am not doing a Amnio this baby. So I will have blood done 2 times a week till the baby comes out.