What is a severe consequence of blood type incompatibility during a transfusion?

Blood type incompatibility during a transfusion occurs when a person receives blood from a donor with an incompatible blood type. This can trigger an immune response where the recipient’s body recognizes the donor red blood cells as foreign and mounts an attack against them. This reaction can lead to a severe and potentially life-threatening condition known as acute hemolytic transfusion reaction.

In a critical case, this immune response can cause widespread destruction of red blood cells, leading to hemolysis, which releases hemoglobin into the bloodstream. The sudden massive destruction of red blood cells can overwhelm the body’s ability to compensate, leading to kidney failure, shock, disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), and ultimately death if not immediately addressed.

The other options, while they might appear as possible consequences of various medical scenarios, do not encapsulate the severe urgency and potential fatality associated specifically with blood type incompatibility during a transfusion. Edema and infection are possible complications but are generally not direct, immediate, and severe consequences of blood type mismatches in transfusion, while shock may occur in severe cases but does not fully articulate the ultimate risk of death that can arise from this type of medical error.