IgA deficiency policies

[janet]

Does anyone have a policy for how often to test for antibodies to IgA

in an IgA deficient patient?

Standard practice is that patients with no detectable anti-IgA can be

transfused with standard blood products with no requirement for

future anti-IgA testing.

OUR PROTOCOL

If a patient claims to be IgA deficient, we have our chemistry lab do

an IgA level. If they are IgA deficient, we err on the side of

caution and obtain washed red cells from CBS. We will also send a

sample for anti-IgA testing, but I'm questioning our protocol.

The only place that tests for anti-IgA seems to be the American Red

Cross, indicating a low demand. What do we do with antibody results?

Will a low level increase? When do we test again if a patient with no

antibodies before transfusion develops anti-IgA? Or should we even be

testing for anti-IgA before a reaction occurs? Should the IgA level be below a certain value?

[estiner]

I too am curious to know what policies are out there for IgA deficiencies. We have a patient whose chart stated "IgA deficient". What should we do?