Can anyone give me your thoughts on running a cold panel? I am trying to get my procedure manual updated (and boy is it a mess!!) and I am debating the cold panel procedure that is in it. The main reason I am debating it, is because based on the other techs' that have been here much longer than I have, it has been at least 20 years since anyone has done a cold panel here. Any time we have any issues, the first thing anyone tries is to pre-warm. And the main time we are concerned is if it interferes with our screen in gel at which point we continue to identify the antibody through gel. We do electronic crossmatches so it doesnt interfere with IS crossmatches. The main interference we would see would be in our reverse types. But if we can warm it up and get our reverse types clear no one would bother even thinking of a cold panel, we would just do an AHG crossmatch.

Is a cold panel something other facilities still do fairly routinely and we are just failing to recognize when it is needed?? Or is this something that other facilities have also slowly gotten away from due to things like gel and solid-phase testing?

Thanks for your input!

I believe I am the only one who has done a cold panel here. But I am just finishing up a SBB course and so I was filled with ambition. It was to prove a pesky anti-M. I don't even think there is an official procedure here for it -- I just went for it.

I'm game for using any technique that helps define what you're concerned about and allow a good night's sleep.

If an RT or cold panel can prove that it's just a clinically-insignificant, cold-reacting antibody giving you fits, prewarm it away and move on!!

We didn't really get into cold panels until we were using gel. The first 2 years we were using gel the antibody that we seemed to send to a reference lab the most was just anti-M. Now if we get a reaction pattern that doesn't fit anything we run a second panel in the refrigerator and compare results. It's easy and it's really helped ID anti-Ms and anti-Ps that were just mucking up the works.

We use Gel as well, and in my case, the anti-M wouldn't really go away... so to prove that's what it was I did cold gel panel.

We use gel also....I will also run a tube panel at room temperature (or need be 4C) to prove an M, P or Lewis. Makes me feel better to put a name to it and know it's insignificant!