Kleihauer

General Information

 A Kleihauer is performed to estimate feto-maternal haemorrhage (FMH). Anti-D will be issued to RhD Negative mums depending upon the degree of FMH. Anti-D should be administered within 72 hours of delivery. Samples exceeding a 2ml bleed will automatically be referred for FMH quantitation by flow cytometry in line with BCSH guidelines. See also FMH in Test Database.

Maternal sample should be taken 30-45 minutes post delivery, manual removal of placenta or sensitising event. This is to allow sufficient time for foetal cells to be distributed within the maternal circulation. Samples taken out-side of this may not give an accurate estimation of any feto-maternal haemorrhage.

Maternal samples should be sent in a 6ml EDTA. If post delivery Kleihauer, please ensure a cord sample in a 3ml EDTA and labelled with mum's forename, surname, maternal PID no. and DOB. The sample should be marked as CORD.

Please contact Blood Bank if you require any further information.