Comparison of conventional tube test technique and gel microcolumn assay for direct antiglobulin test: A large study

Abstract

Gel microcolumn assay (GMA) is a modified serological technique that has been used for ABO and Rh typing, direct antiglobulin test (DAT), detecting alloantibodies, red cell phenotyping, and other applications. However, for DAT, the role of GMA is controversial. The purpose of this large study was to compare the performance of the conventional tube test (CTT) to GMA for detecting potentially significant antibodies coating red blood cells in vivo. From January 1996 to May 2002, we performed DATs by GMA and CTT on 9,862 blood samples submitted to our reference laboratory, using LISS/Coombs cards (DiaMed-Latino America, Lagoa Santa-MG, Brazil) for GMA and polyspecific and monospecific anti-IgG reagents for CTT. Acid eluates were prepared from all positive DAT samples. The specificity of eluates was determined by GMA. We detected nonconcordant results in 2,079 out of 3,163 positive DATs (65.7%). All of these tests were only positive in GMA. Sensitivity and specificity for DATs was 100% and 83.0% for gel, and 50.7% and 97.8% for tube, respectively. Based on this study GMA showed to be more sensitive than CTT for detecting potentially significant antibodies coating red blood cells in vivo.

Multi‐centre evaluation of pre‐transfusional routine tests using 8‐column format gel cards (DG Gel®)

“…This study was carried out to evaluate the sensitivity, specificity, suitability and adaptability of Grifols DG Gel ® cards (an 8‐column microtube agglutination‐based system new to the UK) to the daily blood transfusion laboratory routine. Grifols DG Gel ® cards were compared with the reference method of five laboratories in the United Kingdom (DiaMed‐ID ® cards, a system with a well known performance reliability) (Bromilow et al , 1991; Weisbach et al , 1999; Grey et al , 2002; Novaretti et al , 2003, 2004; Paz et al , 2004; Cid et al , 2006; Schoenfeld et al , 2009) in almost all cases, and with the conventional tube technique in some newborn tests.…”

Increasing patient safety in veterinary transfusion medicine: an overview of pretransfusion testing

“…However, the Dal antigen investigators utilized a gel technology in conjunction with a standard tube technology for crossmatching and reported agreement of both methods 11 . In human medicine the gel test is comparable to the tube assay for both the indirect and direct antiglobulin tests 23–26 . There are currently 2 commercially available gel tests for canine and feline crossmatching: one manufactured by DiaMed and one manufactured by DMS Laboratories e,f (Figure 4).…”

Direct Antiglobulin Reactions in Plasmodium falciparum Parasitized Patients in Sokoto, North Western Nigeria

“…More comprehensive testing should be performed when the tube agglutination DAT is negative in a patient with suspected immune-mediated hemolytic anemia. Further comparisons may be required to determine the proficiency of flow cytometric assays [17,18].…”