BACKGROUND: Platelets can be stored for 3days at 22degrees C in conventional plastic bags plasticizer with di-(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate(DEHP). However, with such a short interval for storage, platelets could not be made easily available for thrombocytopenic patients. In vitro platelet function during 5 days of storage at 22degrees C was studied in a new plastic bag (second generation bag) which contained as plasticizer a tri (2-ethylhexyl)trimellitate and developed in Korea (Boin Medica Co.). METHODS: In vitro function (mean platelet volume, platelet distribution width, pH, platelet aggregation, platelet morphology and swirling phenomenon) was evaluated in 20 units of platelet concentrate at day 0, 2, 5 while mixing in 60 rpm platelet rotator at 22degrees C. RESULTS: At day 5, platelet count, mean platelet volume, platelet distribution width, pH, platelet aggregation, platelet morphology and swirling phenomenon were well maintained. pO2, pCO2 and HCO3- were 65.6mmHg, 43.4mmHg and 12.3mmol/L at day 5, respectively. CONCLUSION: The data indicate that the use of the new platelet storage container will permit satisfactory storage for at least 5 days at 22degrees C.
Blood Platelets* ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Korea ; Mean Platelet Volume ; Plastics ; Platelet Aggregation ; Platelet Count

BACKGROUND: Antibody screening for donated blood is not yet being performed in Korea. Positive rate of irregular antibodies in Korean patients or blood donors has been thought to be much lower than that of foreign contries. We studied to know the actual frequency of irregular antibodies in blood donors with history of parturition using gel card, which was recently introduced in the field of blood banking and considered to be easy to standardize and sensitive to detect irregular antibodies. METHODS: 706 samples were collected from four blood centers in Seoul for 4 months. Antibody screening and identification were done by two kinds of Gel Card (DiaMed-ID corp, DiaMed, Murten, Switzerland) such as Nacl/Enzyme and LISS/Coombs' card. Adsorption- elution test was done in samples of which we could know the antibody specificity. RESULTS: Irregular antibodies were identified in 24 cases among 706 samples, therefore the overall frequency was 3.4% (95% CI: 3.4% +/- 1.3%). Only 4 cases, however, showed positive reaction in both enzyme and Coombs' phase, therefore frequency of clinically significant antibodies was 0.57% (95% CI: 0.57% +/- 0.55%). The identified irregular antibodies were anti-Lea (8 cases), Anti-Rh (3 cases) and Anti-P1 (1 case). Adsorption-elution test showed positive reaction only in 3 cases with anti-Rh antibodies. CONCLUSION: Considering that blood donors with history of parturition comprize just little proportion of total donors in Korea and frequency of irregular antibody is relatively lower than that of foreign countries in same group (0.57% vs 3.8%), it can be concluded that antibody screening be not urgent problem in Korean blood donation program.
Antibodies ; Antibody Specificity ; Blood Banks ; Blood Donors* ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Mass Screening ; Parturition* ; Seoul ; Tissue Donors

BACKGROUND: Genes for ABO and Rh phenotypes were recently identified. Although ABO genotyping don't find wide application in hospital transfusion services, it can play an important role in paternity and forensic investigation. In case of Rh system, however, DNA typing may find several practical applications such as prenatal determination of fetal Rho(D) genotype. METHODS: 64 blood samples for ABO genotyping were collected from blood donors (34 A, 30 B) and 18 samples for D genotyping (10 D+, 8 D-). To distinguish A, B and O alleles, we analyzed nucleotide positions 261 and 803 using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP). PCR products containing nucleotide position 261 were restricted with KpnI and BstEII. Rh genotyping was done by two sets of primers, one set for both RhD and RhCcEe gene amplification, and the other set for RhD only. RESULTS: The frequencies of ABO genotypes found in Korean blood donors were as follows: in the phenotype A group, AO=79% and AA= 21%; and in the phenotype B group, BO=93% and BB=7%. Of 18 blood samples for D genotytping, 10 were typed as RhD positive and 8 as RhD negative, showing full agreement with serological typing. CONCLUSION: ABO and D genotyping can be used when RBCs suitable for serological phenotyping are not available. Futhermore, these will be useful as a supplemental test to solve the problem of blood group typing caused by weak ABO and Rh phenotype.
Alleles ; Blood Donors ; DNA Fingerprinting ; Gene Amplification ; Genotype ; Humans ; Paternity ; Phenotype ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length

BACKGROUND: The major serious risk of blood transfusion is post-transfusion hepatitis. Currently HBsAg, anti-HCV and serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) assays are screened for potential blood donors to prevent transfusion associated hepatitis in Korea. But the effectiveness of serum ALT as a surrogate marker for the screening of non-A, non-B hepatitis is controversial. The present study was designed to evaluate the prevalence of hepatitis markers in Korean blood donors and the usefulness of ALT as a surrogate marker. METHODS: The prevalence rates of anti-HCV and HBsAg were analyzed by age, sex and ALT cut-off level in 405,931 blood donors. The current anti-HCV EIA (LG HCD 3.0 ) comparing to anti-HCV confirmatory immunoblot assay (LG HCD confirm ) and ALT test were evaluated. RESULTS: The positive rate of HBsAg was 3.32% and higher in male across all age group (p<0.01). The rate increased as age increases up to thirties and decreased thereafter. The positive rate of anti-HCV was 0.24% in EIA, and higher in female across all age group except for teenage group (p<0.01). The rate increased as age increases up to fifties (p<0.01). Results of immunoblot assay showed 64% disaccordance with that of EIA and the rate of disaccord was high in female and young age group. The rate of mixed infection of hepatitis B and C was 0.003%. ALT level was within normal range in 95.2% of donors, and the prevalences of HBsAg and anti-HCV were higher as ALT increased above normal level (p<0.01). The sensitivity of ALT in identifying hepatitis C was 34.5% at 45 IU/L, and 22.8% at 65 IU/L. The most accurate cut-off level of ALT for hepatitis C was 23 IU/L in Receiver-Operating Characteristic (ROC) plot and the sensitivity and specificity were 65.5% and 79.9% at that level. CONCLUSION: In contrast to HBsAg, the prevalence rate of anti-HCV showed different pattern in that it was higher in female and continuously increased up to fifties. Confirmatory assay for hepatitis C should be done for the high false positivity of current anti-HCV EIA. The sensitivity and positive predictive value of ALT was so poor that ALT was not found to be useful as a surrogate marker for hepatitis C, but the discontinuance of ALT testing of blood donors needs to be evaluated by further studies.
Alanine Transaminase ; Biomarkers* ; Blood Donors ; Blood Transfusion ; Coinfection ; Female ; Hepatitis B ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; Hepatitis C ; Hepatitis* ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Prevalence* ; Reference Values ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tissue Donors* ; Volunteers*

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis viral markers and ALT levels were evaluated in 190,679 blood donors to infer correlation between positive and control groups. The positive rate of anti-HBc was also observed in HBsAg and anti-HBs negative donors to know necessity about adding the item to the donor screening test. METHODS: The viral markers were tested by EIA method and ALT test was carried by auto-chemistry analyzer. Anti-HCV ELISA positive samples were confirmed by immunoblot assay. RESULTS: The rate of HBsAg(+) was 3.01% and that of anti-HCV was 0.54% of blood donors. The rate of HBsAg(+) and anti-HCV(+) was 0.01% of blood donors. Average ALT level of anti-HCV(+) (immunoblot assay) group was significantly higher than that of the control group. (p<0.001). The positive rate of anti-HCV in confirmatory test (immunoblot assay) was 15.76%. The proportion of donors who were HBsAg(-) and anti-HBs(-) and anti-HBc(+) was 1.87% in 1500 blood donors. CONCLUSION: The average ALT levels seem to be not correlated with viral hepatitis marker positivity except anti-HCV immunoblot assay positivity. It is suggested that anti-HBc and anti-HBs test should be added to screening test for donors and recipients to prevent post transfusional hepatitis.
Biomarkers ; Blood Donors ; Donor Selection ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; Hepatitis* ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Tissue Donors*

BACKGROUND: All donated bloods collected by the Korean Red Cross Blood Centers are tested for anti-HCV (Hepatitis C Virus) antibody by enzyme immunoassay (EIA) kits made in Korea. EIA test has sustaining problem of false positivity in spite of great progress in manufacturing kits. So, many healthy donors have been reported as being infected with HCV and excluded from next donation. METHODS: Among blood samples of 2,040,151 donors which were tested by two kinds of EIA kits (DONG-A HCV 3.0 and LG HCD 3.0) from 16 blood centers during 12 months, repeatably reactive samples, total 6,851 samples, were supplementally tested by LG HCD CONFIRM immunoblot test. RESULTS: Positive, indeterminate and negative rate in immunoblot tests were 39%, 9%, and 12% respectively among 6,851 repeatably reactive samples. Estimated true positive rate of anti-HCV antibody in Korean blood donors was 0.13%, showing geographical difference between 0.03% and 0.46%. Of EIA repeatably reactive samples, 28% showed greater than 5 signal to cutoff (S/C) ratio and most of them (94%) was revealed to be positive. CONCLUSION: True positive rate of EIA test results is so low that it would be necessary to increase the confidence of such results by immunoblot tests.
Blood Donors* ; Humans ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Korea ; Red Cross ; Tissue Donors

Only 0.15% of all donors in Korea are RhD negative, which has led to a chronic shortage of RhD negative blood. Most physicians are aware of the potential for RhD alloimmunization after transfusing RhD+ red blood cells into RhD- patients. Hence, the undertransfusion of RhD- patients might be occurring in Korea. A 66-year-old man without a history of transfusion tested negative for anti-D in his serum. In an emergency situation where RhD- blood was unavailable, the patient received two units of RhD+ RBCs. Anti-D was not detected over three months after the transfusion. The red cells of the patient showed no agglutination with the anti-D reagent and a negative result by the standard weak D test. The polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primers (PCR-SSP) and sequencing revealed D(el) (1227G>A) in the patient.
Aged ; Agglutination ; Emergencies ; Erythrocytes* ; Humans ; Korea ; Tissue Donors

Compared with A101, Ael02 is characterized by 467C>T, 646T>A and 681G>A polymorphisms, resulting in two amino acid substitutions (Pro156Leu and Phe216Ile). The first study in Korea was reported at 2003. However, only unrelated donors were characterized. This study carried out molecular genetic analysis of a 26 year-old male propositus diagnosed with the Ael subgroup by serological tests along with his family. The propositus had the genotype Ael02/B101 expressing the AelB phenotype, and his father the genotype Ael02/O01 expressing the O phenotype. These findings suggest that the AelO2 allele is expressed as different phenotypes depending on the co-inherited ABO alleles.
ABO Blood-Group System ; Adult ; Alleles* ; Amino Acid Substitution ; Fathers ; Genotype ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Molecular Biology ; Phenotype* ; Serologic Tests ; Unrelated Donors

BACKGROUND: With the rapid aging of the Korean population and the steady decrease in the donor population during the past few years, there is a need for measures to ensure balance between blood demand and supply. The trends of the donor population and donor deferral during the past eleven years (1995~2005) were examined to obtain basic data to be used in donor management policy-making. METHODS: Data on the donor population, presenting donors, deferred donors and the reasons for deferral were examined by searching the Blood Information Management System (BIMS) and Annual reports of the Korean Red Cross. RESULTS: The number of presenting donors increased until 2003. However, the actual number of eligible donors has been decreasing since 1999 due to the increase in donor deferral. By enforcing donor eligibility criteria, the donor deferral rate in 1998 increased by 75.2% compared with the previous year, and the deferral rate was 21% in 2005. A low blood specific gravity (SG) was the most common reason for deferral, and more than 90% of those deferred due to a low SG were women. CONCLUSION: In order to assure an adequate donor base, policies should not only target donor recruitment but also the management of deferred donors. The adequacy of currently applied donor eligibility criteria should be reevaluated, and deferred donors should be counseled about their reason for deferral in order to encourage donation. Furthermore, the hemoglobin criteria for women should be reconsidered.
Aging ; Female ; Humans ; Information Management ; Red Cross ; Specific Gravity ; Tissue Donors*

BACKGROUND: The small anellovirus (SAV) is a new member of the genus Anellovirus infecting humans. SAV can be transmissible by transfusion. However there are no reports on SAV infections in Korea. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of SAV in blood products. METHODS: A total of 90 plasma samples from blood products (each 30 units of Red blood cell, whole blood, and platelet concentrate) and 30 serum samples from non-A to C hepatitis patients were tested. SAV DNA was detected using nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). At the same time, TTV and TTMV DNA were detected using nested PCR. RESULTS: SAV DNA was detected in 34% (31/90) of blood products. TTV and TTMV DNA were detected in 66% (54/90) and 29% (26/90) of blood products, respectively. One of the three anelloviruses (SAV, TTV, TTMV) was detected in a total of 77 blood products (86%). SAV DNA was detected in 40% (12/30) of hepatitis patients. TTV and TTMV DNA were detected in 73% (22/30) and 33% (10/30) of those patients, respectively. One of the three anelloviruses (SAV, TTV, TTMV) was detected in 97% (29/30) of hepatitis patients. CONCLUSION: Blood products are frequently infected with SAV and (or) other anelloviruses (TTV/TTMV) in Korea, and can be transmissible with a high probability.
Anelloviridae* ; Blood Platelets ; DNA* ; Erythrocytes ; Hepatitis ; Humans ; Korea ; Plasma ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prevalence