Red blood cell antibody screening with groupamatic system. II. A two-step haemagglutination technique using a trypsin-polybren-citrate method.

The trypsin-polybren-citrate (TPC) technique is based on Lalezari's method and has been developed in the Groupamatic equipment to allow the screening of irregular allo-antibodies which are not detectable on this machine by the present routine techniques. TPC screening has two main advantages: it gives more reliable results for Rh, Kell, Lewis and P antibodies than bromelin-methyl-cellulose, and it permits the screening of Duffy and Kidd antibodies, However, although the TPC technique contributes to an improved quality of the automated screening of blood donor samples, it should not be used as the only method when recipient samples are concerned.