COMPARISON OF THE POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL-ENHANCED AND ALBUMIN-ENHANCED INDIRECT ANTIGLOBULIN TESTS: RETROSPECTIVE STUDY OF THE FREQUENCY AND SPECIFICITY OF ANTIBODIES DETECTED AND FREQUENCY OF DELAYED HEMOLYTIC TRANSFUSION REACTIONS

We compared the albumin-enhanced indirect antiglobulin test (Alb-IAT) and polyethylene glycol-enhanced IAT (PEG-IAT) for their detection rate and specificity of irregular antibodies, and the frequency of delayed hemolytic transfusion reactions (DHTR). Screening and identification for irregular antibodies were performed using Alb-IAT in 25,947 patients from 1990 to 1996 and PEG-IAT for 23,039 patients from 1997 to 2003. The rates of irregular antibodies detected by the two methods were not statistically different, at 1.07% for Alb-IAT and 1.16% for PEG-IAT. In contrast, the rates of detection of anti-E and anti-Jka by PEG-IAT was significantly higher than that by Alb-IAT (p