Test device for Blood transfusion safety: How acoustics can help preventing any red cells incompatibility

International audienceDuring red cells concentrates transfusion, red cells incompatibilities still occur despite the laboratory controls based on immuno-hematologic techniques. Red cells incompatibilities appear when patient’s antibodies bind to red cells to be transfused. Up to now, all pre-transfusion testing are addressed using techniques based on immunology. This is time consuming, expensive and some incompatibility situations cannot be addressed at the patient’s bedside. In this position paper, we propose a completely novel paradigm. Our hypothesis is that red blood cells sensitized by the patient’s antibodies see their deformability greatly reduced. This induces changes of the rheological properties of the “red cells concentrate /patient’s blood” mixture. Studies described in this position paper aim at characterizing these modifications by measuring the characteristics of acoustic waves propagating in the mixture and to produce a mobile and automated acousto-micro-fluidic device which would allow detecting any incompatibility at the patient’s bed side