In a unique medical procedure never before carried out in Turkey, the Turkish Red Crescent saved the lives of a mother and her baby by transfusing blood with the world’s rarest blood type, Rh null, known as ‘golden blood’ because of its extreme rarity, which is present in only 1 in 6 million people. An intervention that allowed the 30-year-old woman to successfully give birth to her third child.
As reported by the Turkish daily Hürriyet, Naide Soylu had had no complications in her two previous pregnancies, but it was only in her third pregnancy that routine tests revealed that, due to her thalassaemia (a type of hereditary anaemia), she needed an urgent blood transfusion in the seventh month of pregnancy. Three previous attempts at transfusion through the Red Crescent had failed, and when blood from relatives was tried, it was also found to be incompatible.
The situation became critical and doctors did not understand what was happening… Until further tests carried out at the University of Gaziantep and in laboratories in the United States confirmed that the woman had Rh null blood– an extraordinarily rare blood type that only a thousand people have… Worldwide.
If the transfusion could not be given in time, the lives of the mother and baby would be in serious danger. Given the imminence of the delivery and the urgency of the situation, the University of Gaziantep requested immediate assistance and the Red Crescent managed to obtain two units of frozen Rh null blood from Spain, and an extra unit from an active donor. The material was transported to Istanbul in a complicated operation, and from there to Gaziantep – all under special conditions to preserve the cold chain. Thanks to this, the patient was able to undergo surgery and give birth to her baby without complications.
“I have realised how important it is to donate blood“
“I had never heard of golden blood before. I was afraid that I might give birth and not get to hold my baby. I had no hope, my family and my husband were trying to comfort me… And as the due date approached, the good news from Spain brought me back to life. The first time I had the transfusion my heart was accelerated; I thought something was wrong, but then I calmed down. The operation was complicated, but I managed to recover after another blood donation. I have realised how important it is to donate blood,” she said.
Nazlı Sözmen, head of R&D at the Red Crescent Blood Services, explained how the process of finding and transferring the ‘golden blood’ from Spain to Turkey was managed: “We contacted the International Rare Blood Donor Panel and received a positive response from Spain. They confirmed that they had a registered donor with Rh null blood and two frozen units in the bank”.
“It was essential to coordinate the release date, because once the blood units were thawed, they could only be used within 72 hours. We ensured that the cold chain was maintained and we moved the blood to Istanbul, and then to Gaziantep. This is the first time the Red Crescent has carried out such a procedure in our country,” Sözmen concluded.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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