FLOW-CYTOMETRY OF THE COMPATIBILITY OF PL ATELET TRANSFUSIONS

We developed a flow cytometric crossmatch (FC-CM) for the selection of compatible donors for thrombocytopenic patients and compared its pred ictive value for a successful platelet transfusion in a prospective st udy to LCT. In case of alloimmunization, FC-CM detects bound IgG on ly mphocytes and/or platelets after incubation with patient's serum, Base d on the posttransfusion increment in 122 transfusions, the specifity was 81% for LCT and 96% for FC-CM (platelet gate). In conclusion, the FACS-CM is a rapid and useful assay for donor selection in cases of al loimmunized patients with lymphocytotoxic and/or platelet-specific ant ibodies.