Utility of Direct Antiglobulin Test (Direct Coombs test) – An Urban Public Hospital Experience

Dr Nikita Shah; Dr Mayura Phulpagar; Dr G V Puranik

Volume : IX, Issue : I, January - 2020

Utility of Direct Antiglobulin Test (Direct Coombs test) – An Urban Public Hospital Experience

Dr Nikita Shah, Dr Mayura Phulpagar, Dr G V Puranik

Abstract :

Introduction and Aims–The Direct Antiglobulin Test (DAT) is the test that detects immunoglobulin and/or complement on surface of red blood cells. Most of the laboratory use conventional tube technique but in 2–6% of cases of patients with clinical symptoms of hemolysis turn out coombs test negative on repeated testing. Hence we conducted this study to know more sensitive, simpler and cost effective technique of performing direct coombs test. Materials and Methods–A prospective study was performed over period of 18 months 500 cases of various indications were studied Feuary 2018 to August 2019.Results–Sensitivity of gel technique was 100%, specificity was 96.12%, positive predictive value is 84.62% and negative predictive value was 100% in our study. There was 95% agreement between the results of gel card method and conventional tube method. Conclusion– In present study it was observed that Gel Technique was easier and quicker with better sensitivity than Conventional Tube Technique.