Comparison between Conventional Tube Technique and Column Agglutination Technique for Red Blood Cell Antibody Testing

Background: There are various techniques used for detection of antibodies in the blood. Conventional Tube technique (CTT) is the widely used for performing Indirect Antiglobulin Test (IAT). Column Agglutination Technique (CAT) is more sensitive. As we adopt this newer technique in our lab, this study will help to grasp a better understanding of the efficacy of the CAT in comparison to CTT in terms of DAT. Objective: To assess the potency of Column Agglutination Technique (CAT) in comparison to Conventional Tube Technique (CTT) with respect to IAT. Methods: This was a comparative cross sectional study which was carried out at the Department of Transfusion Medicine, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka from June 2022 to July 2023 over a period of one year. After obtaining I.R.B. clearance and informed consent of the patient all the samples referred to our department for the purpose of performing Coombs test/ IAT will be included consecutively in this study according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Particulars of the patient and necessary clinical and available laboratory data indicating haemolysis was collected from the patient’s referral sheet and registered in the questionnaire. Venous blood was collected for performing IAT with polyspecific antiglobulin reagents in CAT and CTT on the day of sample collection. Later these investigation results was collected and registered in the questionnaire. Finally, statistical analysis was done by SPSS, version-21. Results: 90 samples were analyzed and out of these 20 samples were found incompatible by CAT with gel card method but 15 were detected incompatible by CTT. Column agglutination technique is more potent than conventional tube technique in detecting positive result. Among 90 samples 41 were male and 49 were female. There was history of pregnancy in 32 female. Out of 90 study population 81 were experienced with blood transfusion. Time required for total procedure for CTT was approximately 100 ...