Results of Proficiency Tests for HBsAg and Anti-HCV as the Blood Donor Screening Testing (2012~2015) / 대한수혈학회지

BACKGROUND: Donor screening test is one of the most important processes for blood safety management. Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) has been conducting an annual proficiency test program that includes the distribution of specially manufactured panels for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and antibody to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) to blood centers. Here, KCDC reports the results of these proficiency tests for HBsAg and anti-HCV blood donor screening for all licensed blood centers in Korea between 2012 and 2015. METHODS: Panels for the proficiency tests were manufactured and distributed to blood centers by Chung-Ang University Hospital, which has been participating in the Korea Blood Safety Commission. Well-proven reactive sera and healthy donor's sera acquired from the Human Serum Bank in Chung-Ang University were used to make the panels. To identify the S/CO ratio of the panel, three medical institutes triple-checked the results of each panel. RESULTS: Most blood centers reported correct answers for the proficiency test with six panels. The average percentages (year) of correct answers were as follows: 98.7% (2012), 98.5% (2013), 99.1% (2014) and 99.6% (2015) for the HBsAg proficiency tests; and 97.7% (2012), 99.5% (2013), 99.1% (2014), and 99.8% (2015) for the anti-HCV proficiency tests. CONCLUSION: To improve the blood center's ability for donor screening tests, KCDC will continue the proficiency test program by managing specialized panels for HBsAg and Anti-HCV tests. Furthermore, we will investigate the level of satisfaction to improve the quality of the program.

Analysis of the Reentry Test Results of the HCV Deferred Donors / 대한수혈학회지

BACKGROUND: The donor deferral registry (DDR) program has been operating since 2004. The donors who registered in the DDR are prohibited from donating blood. But some of them can enter the eligible donor group if they pass a reentry test. We analyzed the results of the reentry tests for the HCV deferred donors. METHODS: A total of 587 donor samples were tested during 18 months (July. 2007~December. 2008). Anti-HCV (ARCHITECT HCV, Abbott, Wiesbaden, Germany), RIBA (LG HCD confirm, LG Life Sciences, Daejeon, Korea), and HCV RNA (PCR with COBAS AMPLICOR HCV, Roche, Molecular Systems, Inc. Branchburg, USA) were used for detection. The donors showing negativity for all the test items were released from the DDR. RESULTS: Among the 587 subjects, 466 (79.4%) of the donors who showed negative results on the tests were released from DDR. The donors who showed variable positive results for the tests were not released. Only 15 donors of 121 donors showed positive or indeterminate (ID) results according to the anti-HCV, RIBA and the PCR results. CONCLUSION: Those people with RIBA ID with negative results in anti-HCV and PCR results were unnecessarily kept on the retained in DDR unnecessarily. The algorithm of the reentry test for HCV deferred donors seems to needs to be reevaluated to for the saveing eligible donors.

The Trends for Nationwide Blood Collection and the Supply of Blood in Korea during 2002~2006 / 대한수혈학회지

BACKGROUND: The recent trends for blood collection and the blood supply were analyzed. METHODS: Data from the annual reports of the Korean Red Cross from 2002 to 2006 were analyzed. RESULTS: The number of donors in 2002~2003 was about 2,530,000, but this decreased to 2,300,000 in the past 3 years with the population's donation rate being 4.7%. By age, those donors between 16~29 years made up 83% of all the donors. As donor verification became possible in real-time, blood collection from the registered deferral donors was decreased. Blood drawn by the KRC made up 98% of all the blood collected in Korea. Plasma collection for fractionation had recently decreased because of the blood shortage for transfusion in hospitals. The collection of single donor platelets has increased to up to 25% of all the platelets used in Korea. The supply of pre-storage leuko-reduced RBCs had increased. The inventory levels of blood components were lower than the proper levels for most of the days in 2006. The rate of discarding outdated blood components was markedly decreased due to a shortage of blood. The positive rate in screening tests for transfusion-related infection was an average of 2.4%. By nucleic acid tests,which were initiated from 2005, 14 cases during the window period (10 cases of HCV and 4 cases of HIV) were detected. CONCLUSION: For insuring a safe supply of blood, the donor information systems and up-to-date tests were deemed to become of good quality. However, the blood shortage should be resolved as soon as possible to maintain a consistent blood supply.

The Trends for Nationwide Blood Collection and the Supply of Blood in Korea during 2002~2006 / 대한수혈학회지

BACKGROUND: The recent trends for blood collection and the blood supply were analyzed. METHODS: Data from the annual reports of the Korean Red Cross from 2002 to 2006 were analyzed. RESULTS: The number of donors in 2002~2003 was about 2,530,000, but this decreased to 2,300,000 in the past 3 years with the population's donation rate being 4.7%. By age, those donors between 16~29 years made up 83% of all the donors. As donor verification became possible in real-time, blood collection from the registered deferral donors was decreased. Blood drawn by the KRC made up 98% of all the blood collected in Korea. Plasma collection for fractionation had recently decreased because of the blood shortage for transfusion in hospitals. The collection of single donor platelets has increased to up to 25% of all the platelets used in Korea. The supply of pre-storage leuko-reduced RBCs had increased. The inventory levels of blood components were lower than the proper levels for most of the days in 2006. The rate of discarding outdated blood components was markedly decreased due to a shortage of blood. The positive rate in screening tests for transfusion-related infection was an average of 2.4%. By nucleic acid tests,which were initiated from 2005, 14 cases during the window period (10 cases of HCV and 4 cases of HIV) were detected. CONCLUSION: For insuring a safe supply of blood, the donor information systems and up-to-date tests were deemed to become of good quality. However, the blood shortage should be resolved as soon as possible to maintain a consistent blood supply.

Significance of Multidrug Resistance (MDR) Activity in Remission Induction & Survival of Acute Myeloid Leukemia / 대한혈액학회지

BACKGROUND: The significant improvement in the treatment of adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has been achieved in recent years. However, many patients still fail to achieve a complete remission and long term survival because of either toxic death during aplasia periods of induction chemotherapy or resistance to induction chemotherapy. The P-glycoprotein (Pgp) associated with Multidrug Resisitance (MDR) gene is the best characterized mechanism of resistance to induction chemotherapy. In this study, the authors effort to examine the functional activity of Pgp using the rhodamine123 functional efflux assay and discuss for the predictive value of MDR functional assay for treatment outcomes of AML. METHODS: Between January 1996 and June 2003, 45 patients with AML were enrolled in this study. For evaluation of functional MDR activity using the rhodamine123 functional efflux assay, mononuclear cells isolated from bone marrow aspirates of 45 patients were used. All patients were received induction chemotherapy and consolidation therapy with high dose chemotherapy or stem cell transplantation. RESULTS: Among the 45 AML patients, 30 (66.7%) patients showed positive functional MDR activity and 15 (33.3%) patients negative functional MDR activity. Complete remission rate was lower in the group with positive functional MDR activity than negative, but no statistical significance was observed (P=0.453). Survival time in both groups was investigated. Leukemia free survival was 40.9 months in negative group and 18.7 months in positive group (P=0.336). Overall survival was 48.5 months and 26.6 months respectively (P=0.513). CONCLUSION: The functional MDR activity using the rhodamine123 functional efflux assay does not significantly affect induction rate and survival rate of AML patients.

Performance Analysis of the Beckman Coulter GEN-S Automated Hematology Analyzer / 대한임상병리학회지

BACKGROUND: The complete blood cell count (CBC) and leukocyte differential counts are useful tools for making a diagnosis, treating and monitoring a disease. This study evaluated the perfor-mance of Beckman-Coulter's new model, the Coulter GEN-S system (Beckman Coulter Corpora-tion, Miami, USA; GEN-S), and compared it with the Sysmex NE-8000 (Sysmex Corporation, Kobe, Japan; NE-8000) and Sysmex R-3000 (Sysmex Corporation, Kobe, Japan; R-3000). METHODS: One hundred and four blood samples and 120 blood samples were randomly chosen for a comparison analysis from various in-patients and healthy persons, who visited Samsung med-ical center, respectively. The GEN-S system was evaluated according to the linearity and how well it compared with the NE-8000 in terms of the CBC, and the efficiency of the leukocyte suspect flags. RESULTS: The GEN-S showed that the determination coefficients (R(2)) of the WBC, RBC, platelet count and hemoglobin level were more than 0.94 (P 0.95 (P < 0.001) when compared with the NE-8000. In addition, the correlations of the leukocyte differential counts for neutrophils, eosinophils, and lymphocytes were good, but those for monocytes and basophils were poor. The sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value of the leukocyte suspect flags of the GEN-S system were 89%, 73%, and 43%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate the comparable performance of the GEN-S system in clinical laboratories. However, a separate microscopic differential count is required due to the low positive predictive value for the leukocyte suspect flags.