Quality assurance of gelcards centrifuged multiple times before use for testing.

BACKGROUND

Further use of reagents, that have not been consumed in total by tests in the laboratory, is of financial and ecological interest. If there are no instructions by the manufacturer, such a procedure must be validated thoroughly. As gelcards of the DiaMed-ID Micro Typing System contain 6 microtubes for immunohematological reactions, sometimes not all of these microtubes are needed at the same time.

METHODS

Gelcards "NaCl, enzyme test and cold agglutinins" and "Liss/Coombs" were not recentrifuged or 1 to 5 times recentrifuged. Gelcards "DiaClon ABD confirmation for patients" were not recentrifuged or recentrifuged once before being used for testing.

RESULTS

The use of gelcards, recentrifuged up to 5 times or recentrifuged 1 time, respectively, before use, provided no false positive or false negative results.

CONCLUSIONS

Quality assurance of gelcards, that had been centrifuged several times before being used for testing, is an example for economical and safe use of resources in the laboratory.