Evaluation of a modified IAT-gel with polyethylenglycol (PEG) addition method for red blood cell antibody identification.

We aimed to evaluate whether a PEG-IAT method, modified for gel technique, could replace the two-stage enzyme method for routine identification of red blood cell (RBC) antibodies.A total of 161 selected patient samples were analyzed with the two-stage enzyme tube technique and the PEG-IAT in gel techniques. In 65 samples, identical antibody results were obtained by the two methods. An additional 28 antibodies were identified by either the PEG-IAT gel method or the enzyme method. Twenty antibodies were identified by the PEG-IAT gel method only (12 Rh antibodies, four anti-Kell, two anti-Fya, two anti-Jka), and eight antibodies by the enzyme method only (four Rh antibodies, one anti-K, one anti-Jka, two anti-Lea). The results in the remaining 68 samples were judged as nonspecific reactions, which were more common when the enzyme method was used. We concluded that the PEG-IAT in gel method identifies more RBC antibodies with less nonspecific reactions than the two-stage enzyme technique. However, no single method detected all clinical significant RBC antibodies.