Comparative study of Blood Crossmatching using Gel and Conventional Tube Technique

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Coombs cross-matching is used to detect the presence of alloantibodies in a cross matching procedure. These alloantibodies can cause hemolytic reaction in a transfused patient. Tube technique is the most commonly used method for Coombs cross matching in India. Tube has been the gold standard technique in crossmatching of blood. The aim of the study is to compare between the conventional tube technique and the gel technique in crossmatching of blood. METHODS: Patients’ blood samples are sent to our blood bank for routine cross matching procedure. Both Tube and Gel technique were used for Coombs cross matching and their results were compared and analyzed. RESULTS: This prospective study was conducted on 1200 blood samples to compare conventional tube and gel techniques in crossmatching of blood. The number of Coombs Crossmatch incompatible samples by tube technique was 14 and by gel technique was 18. The prevalence of the tube and gel technique in detection of irregular antibodies was 1.2 % and 1.5 % respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of the gel technique with respect to tube technique were 100 % and 99.7 % respectively. CONCLUSION: The gel technique has definite advantages over the tube technique because of being able to detect more positive samples than tube and its shorter duration for the crossmatching procedure. However, in a developing country like India, the gel technique if applied widely, cost factor would come down and could be considered as a better alternative to the conventional tube technique to ensure successful transfusion