Taber's Medical Dictionary
Coombs test
(Koomz)
[R.R.A. Coombs, Brit. immunologist, 1921-2006]
A laboratory test for the presence of antibodies, usually blood type antibodies, in serum. The patient's serum is incubated with red blood cells (RBCs) with known antigenic markers; if antibodies to the antigen are present in the serum, they bind with the RBCs. When antihuman globulin is added, RBC clumping (agglutination) occurs. The test is used for crossmatching blood before transfusions to ensure that no antigen-antibody reactions will occur and to test for the presence of specific antibodies to RBCs.
Citation
Venes, Donald, editor. "Coombs Test." Taber's Medical Dictionary, 24th ed., F.A. Davis Company, 2021. Nursing Central, nursing.unboundmedicine.com/nursingcentral/view/Tabers-Dictionary/767686/all/Coombs_test.
Coombs test. In: Venes DD, ed. Taber's Medical Dictionary. F.A. Davis Company; 2021. https://nursing.unboundmedicine.com/nursingcentral/view/Tabers-Dictionary/767686/all/Coombs_test. Accessed January 2, 2025.
Coombs test. (2021). In Venes, D. (Ed.), Taber's Medical Dictionary (24th ed.). F.A. Davis Company. https://nursing.unboundmedicine.com/nursingcentral/view/Tabers-Dictionary/767686/all/Coombs_test
Coombs Test [Internet]. In: Venes DD, editors. Taber's Medical Dictionary. F.A. Davis Company; 2021. [cited 2025 January 02]. Available from: https://nursing.unboundmedicine.com/nursingcentral/view/Tabers-Dictionary/767686/all/Coombs_test.
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