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Malcolm Needs

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Malcolm Needs last won the day on March 12

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About Malcolm Needs

  • Birthday 12/14/1954

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Interests
    Rugby Union, Cricket, cooking, wine, port, reading, crosswords, lecturing, more wine and more port!
  • Biography
    Pretty boring really, but not that pretty!
  • Location
    Sourton, Devon, England
  • Occupation
    Prior to retirement, I had taken a brand-new role in the NHSBT and was involved very much more on the education and training side of red cell immunohaematology. My title was Reference Service Manager, but with Training after it (Reference Service Manager - Training). I was very excited about this change, as I have a passion for training and education.
    Reference Service Manager with the NHSBT.
    Ex-Chartered Scientist.
    Fellow of the British Blood Transfusion Society, having twice served on their National Council.
    Ex-Fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Science. Ex-member of their Special Advisory Panel for Transfusion Science and Chief Examiner for Transfusion Science for the Institute.
    Author of the chapter "Human erythrocyte antigens or blood groups" in Fundamentals of Biomedical Science, Transfusion and Transplantation Science, edited by Robin Knight, for the IBMS. 1st edition, Oxford University Press 2013 (ISBN 978-0-19-953328-2, pages 19-44.
    Was a member of the BSH Blood Transfusion Task Force (writing Guidelines).
    Member of ISBT and AABB
    I am now retired from the Blood Service, but still do the other things!
  • Real Name
    Malcolm Needs FBBTS

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Malcolm Needs's Achievements

  1. The Red Cell Immunohaematology Departments of the National Health Service Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) in England and North Wales have used the Bio-Rad Gel cassettes for years now, and they are absolutely brilliant. We use them both manually using semi-automated pipettes and reading by eye, and on on fully automated machines with automatic reading. The ONLY drawback that we ever found was that they are particularly sensitive for detecting unwanted reactions caused by "cold reacting" autoantibodies and cold reacting" alloantibodies, such as sub-clinical anti-M, but I wouldn't swap them for anything.
  2. I can fully understand what you are saying (and agree almost 100%), but I do have some sympathy for them signing the forms "after the event" as it were, because when they do have to use the uncrossmatched blood that quickly, then they are going to be pretty busy doing things like preventing the demise of the patient - if you see what I mean!!!!!!!!!
  3. Thanks for this explanation Arno. I should have thought of it myself (but didn't!) as my friend Bill Chaffe, a former President of the BBTS described just such a situation in a meeting a few years back.
  4. Well, that's got rid of two of my possible theories in one fell swoop! I was wondering either about loss of antigenicity due to some form of myeloid malignancy, or of adsorption of autologous secreted A substance on to the donor group O red cell surface following a successful BMT or stem cell transplant, which may be seen with only some clones of anti-A (see, for example, Cripps K, Mullanfiroze K, Hill A, Moss R, Kricke S. Prevalence of adsorbed A antigen onto donor-derived group O red cells in children following stem cell transplantation: A single-centre evaluation. Vox Sang 2023; 118: 153-159. DOI.10.1111/vox.13386., but I saw this phenomenon in adults many times when working at Westminster Hospital). Oh well, back to having more thoughts!
  5. Would you be able to disclose the underlying pathology of the patient please?
  6. Welcome WVLAB. If you are anything like me, you will love this site, and soon get hooked!
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