Nomenclatures

Four different Rh nomenclatures exist: Fisher-Race, shorthand, Wiener, and Rosenfield's numerical nomenclature. In routine work, most technologist use only the Fisher-Race and shorthand nomenclatures (Table 5-1).

Note: In shorthand, R1, R2, Ro, etc., denote red cell phenotypes, whereas R1 , R2 , Ro denote genotypes.

Table 5-1. Rh system nomenclatures and frequencies.

Antigens

Fisher-Race Wiener (historical) Rosenfield Approximate frequency (Caucasians)
D Rho 1 85%
C rh' 2 70%
E rh'' 3 30%
c hr' 4 80%
e hr'' 5 98%

Complexes

Fisher-Race Shorthand Genotype frequencies (Caucasians)
CDe R1 R1r 32% - most common
cDE R2 R1R1 18%
CDE Rz R1R2 12%
cDe Ro R2r 11%
Cde r' R2R2 2%
cdE r'' Ror 2%
CdE ry rr 15%
cde r r"r 0.9%
r'r 0.8%

Nomenclatures