Rapid diagnosis of sickle cell disease at birth by microcolumn chromatography.

Accurate specific diagnosis of sickle cell disease can now be made at birth on routinely obtained cord blood samples by microcolumn chromatography. The method uses a small column of a cation ion exchange resin, CM-Sephadex, and a single developer that allows definitive rapid distinction of hemoglobin SS, AS, AC, SC, and CC, within two hours. Seventy-five samples or more per day have been analyzed by one technician in a laboratory without special precautions or equipment. In a program which has been initiated on a large, totally unpredictable obstetrical service in Los Angeles, 10,401 consecutively born infants have been studied for hemoglobin type without regard to racial origin. Three SS infants, 1 SC, 143 AS infants, and 37 AC infants as well as several with other abnormal hemoglobins have been identified without interfering with the routine operation of the delivery rooms of the obstetrical service. The diagnosis of sickle cell disease has been confirmed on subsequent examinations of the infants. The feasibility of using microcolumn chromatography as a rapid, accurate, inexpensive, and easy method for the rapid diagnosis of sickle cell disease in newborns has now been established.