Blood transfusion, printed
Blood transfusion
Recipient &
Transfusion
Donated
blood
Transplantation
barriers
Risks &
Hemovigilance

Testing of donated blood

Blood from each donor goes through the following routine laboratory testing:

Infectious disease markers

The following tests are performed:

  • Hepatitis B: HBs antigen
  • Hepatitis C: anti-HCV antibodies + HCV nucleic acid detection
  • HIV: anti HIV antibodies + HIV nucleic acid detection
  • Syphilis: anti-treponema antibodies (VDRL, TPHA)

Current estimates of risk of infection after infusion of blood products tested are: less than 1/10^7 for HIV, approximately 1/10^6 for HCV and < 1/200'000 for HBV.

Antibodies to cytomegalovirus (CMV) are usually tested in the first blood donation and in the further donations of CMV-negative donors so that their (CMV-negative blood) can be used for severely immunosuppressed patients.

Immuno-hematological tests

Blood grouping
The following routine tests are performed:

  • ABO grouping
  • RH phenotyping for the antigens D, C, E, c, e.
  • Kel1 phenotyping

Antibody screening
This consists in searching for unexpected (irregular) antibodies in the donor’s plasma. This screening is performed by indirect antiglobulin testing (IAT = indirect Coombs technique).