SURVEY ON PRETRANSFUSION TESTING

BACKGROUND: Hospitals and blood centers throughout the United States u se a variety of reagents and methods to perform pretransfusion testing . A survey was developed to determine the reagents and methods in use and their relative prevalence in different work settings. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: A national survey on pretransfusion testing was conducte d. Surveys were distributed to state and regional blood bank associati ons, which then distributed them to hospitals and blood centers within their region. In most instances, the blood centers distributed the su rvey to the local hospital. Completed surveys were returned to the aut hors for review and all information was entered into a database for an alysis. RESULTS: Analysis of the data shows that the majority of blood . banks use monoclonal reagents for ABO testing and monoclonal-polyclo nal blended reagents for Rh testing. The data show that anti-IgG and p olyclonal antihuman globulin,reagents are used almost equally for anti body screening (detection) tests and that most blood banks use a three -cell antibody-screening test. Slightly more than 50 percent of hospit als use an immediate; spin crossmatch in the absence of unexpected ant ibodies. CONCLUSION: A number of approved reagents and methods are use d by blood bank laboratories for pretransfusion testing. Facility size (number of beds) and type, tend to influence the choice of methods an d reagents employed. This purvey provides an opportunity for blood ban k laboratories to compare their current practices with those of their peers.