Techniques for detecting cold antibodies

[NAN47]

If you have a grouping anomaly which is suspected to be due to a cold reacting antibody, do folk set up saline cards with Coombs panel at room temp and /or 4c to help identify the antibody? 

[Malcolm Needs ☆]

If it was a "cold" antibody, we would perform the ABO and D type by tube technique at strictly 37^oC.  If the antibody has an exceptionally wide thermal amplitude (still interferes with the ABO and D type at 37^oC, we would give group O, D Negative blood - unless of course, the antibody is a saline reacting anti-c or anti-e).

If the "cold" antibody does not interfere with the ABO and D type at 37^oC, we would probably test to see if the antibody can be detected at 30^oC (which means that it could be a clinically-significant "cold" auto-antibody), but we wouldn't bother to try to find the specificity, unless we were so bored that we had nothing else to do, because, under these circumstances, the antibody would not be clinically significant in terms of a transfusion.