ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: There is a recent trend of increased use of the gel test for detecting unexpected antibodies because of its simplicity and the ease with which a definitive interpretation can be made. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of newly developed DG Gel microtube column agglutination system as compared with the tube method and other two microtube column agglutination systems (DiaMed-ID, Ortho BioVue). METHODS: We collected 305 patients who were screened for unexpected antibody from February to July 2007. These samples were screened and we identified the unexpected antibody with the tube method and three microtube column agglutination systems. RESULTS: The highest estimated sensitivity of the screening test was 97.4% for DiaMed-ID. The highest estimated specificity of the screening test was 100% for DG Gel. The least number of discordant identification results was seven for the DG Gel. CONCLUSION: DG Gel has good diagnostic efficacy and accuracy for identifying unexpected antibody. DG Gel might be used as a replacement or supplement for the previous tests.