Modification of standard Western pretransfusion testing procedures for Taiwan

Due to significant differences in blood group antigen and antibody frequencies between Taiwanese and Caucasians, standard Western pretransfusion testing procedures have been modified for use in Taiwan. Pretransfusion testing consists simply of ABO grouping and antibody screening/major cross-matching using the manual Polybrene method without any antiglobulin phase. The manual Polybrene method is preformed using regents prepared in house and is rapid (about 3 min), inexpensive and easy to perform. Rh(D) typing of patients is unnecessary as the frequency of D in Taiwanes is 99.67% and the occurrence of anti-D in patients (or in haemolytic disease of the newborn) is uncommon. Great reductions in both cost and labour have resulted from these modifications, and it is suggested that other countries may consider similar modifications.