EVALUATION OF THE MICROCOLUMN TECHNOLOGY FOR PRETRANSFUSION TESTING IN MULTIPLE-MYELOMA PATIENTS

Objective: Microcolumn tests are useful for serological investigations , although because of their high sensitivity, false-positive results m ight be expected, e.g. in hypergammaglobulinemia. The aim of this stud y was to evaluate these tests in multiple myeloma. Methods: Pretransfu sion testing was done in 80 patients with multiple myeloma using micro column and traditional tube tests. Results: All sera were negative in microcolumn indirect antiglobulin test and enzyme test, positive in 58 % of samples in the enzyme tube test. The microcolumn direct antiglobu lin test was positive in about 40% of samples but never in the tube di rect antiglobulin test. This was not due to the presence of autoantibo dies but to nonspecific binding of immunoglobulins related to their co ncentration in sera. Conclusion: Microcolumn tests appeared to be usef ul for pretransfusion testing in multiple myeloma in spite of positive autocontrols.