Comparison of micro column technology with conventional tube methods for antibody detection

Conventional tube technique (CTT) has been the mainstay for antibody detection in pretransfusion testing. There have been rapid technological advances in blood banking and methodology of crossmatch has been modified to improve the sensitivity of these tests and to enable automation. This study was done to compare the efficacy of three crossmatch techniques: CTT, tube low-ionic-strength-saline indirect antiglobulin test (tube LISS-IAT), and micro column technology (MCT) used in the blood bank serology laboratory.

In this prospective study, 150 samples from patients who had received two or more transfusions on two different occasions (with at least 72 h between two transfusions) were subjected to cross match by three different techniques - CTT, LISS-IAT, and MCT.

A total of 16 cases with antibodies were identified in 150 patients. Out of 16 cases, 14 were clinically significant (anti-c = 5, anti-K = 4, anti-E = 2, anti-S = 2, anti-Jk^a = 1) and 2 nonclinically significant antibody cases (anti-Le^a). MCT detected all the 14 clinically significant antibody cases and no case of nonclinically significant antibody. Tube LISS-IAT detected 14 antibody cases including 2 cases of non-clinically significant antibody but failed to detect 1 case of anti-c and the only case of anti-Jk^a. CTT detected only 10 antibody cases including 2 cases of non-clinically significant antibody and but failed to detect 3 cases of anti-c, 1 case of anti-K, 1 case of anti-E, and the only case of anti-Jk^a.

MCT was found to be most efficacious when compared to CTT and tube LISS-IAT in detecting clinically significant red cell antibodies; although MCT missed 2 cases of Le^a antibody which were detected by CTT and LISS-IAT.