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comment_25514

Will your laboratory consider performing ABO typing using the slide method, in case of a disaster?

(Scenario: An earthquake happened at night and caused power outage. Your hospital is deluged with

hundreds of trauma victims. The hospital set up treatment area in the parking lot.)

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comment_25517
Will your laboratory consider performing ABO typing using the slide method, in case of a disaster?

(Scenario: An earthquake happened at night and caused power outage. Your hospital is deluged with

hundreds of trauma victims. The hospital set up treatment area in the parking lot.)

In the UK, so many hospitals have gone over to CAT that I doubt if many would have liquid ABO grouping reagents to perform such tests.

comment_25528
So, what would you do? Only give O red cells? Just exactly what is CAT?:confused:

We've got some in the NHSBT, and could probably get those to the hospital fairly quickly if the roads are okay. If not...?

CAT is column agglutination technology.

:eek::eek::eek::eek:

comment_25543

I think in the case of disaster we will do whatever is required to get the job done. ABO reacts well enough that most patient samples will agglutinate in the tube even without centrifugation. If we run out of tubes and have slides, we would do slides. I don't see us just going to slides right off the cuff. You could set up several samples at once. By the time the last one is dropped, the first one will be ready to read (assuming you have a flashlight...)

comment_25545

In a disaster of the magnitude that you described, there would not be enough O negative RBCs for all victims.

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comment_25552

It will take about 10 min to get the ABO type using the CAT and will need a centrifuge. If you have a power outage and hundreds of trauma victims at your doorstep, what is the quickest and safest way to provide blood while still conserving your O units?

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