A Pilot Project for the Expansion of the External Quality Assessment Program in Transfusion Medicine: Anti-D Titer Test

Abstract

Background: Many test items in transfusion medicine that are still not included in the Korean Association of External Quality Assessment Service. We performed a pilot project of anti-D titer test for the expansion of proficiency testing program in transfusion medicine.

Methods: Proficiency testing materials with low (BBS2-21-01) and high (BBS2-21-02) anti-D titer were sent to 53 laboratories that agreed to participate in the pilot project for the 2nd Korean Association of External Quality Assessment Service on Transfusion Medicine in 2021. The results were entered on the website of the Korean Association of External Quality Assessment Service (http://eqas.keqas.org/).

Results: A total of 47 laboratories submitted the results. For BBS2-21-01, the intended response of anti-D titer was 4–16 for tube technique with antihuman globulin (AHG) and 16–64 for column agglutination technique (CAT) with AHG. Meanwhile, for BBS2-21-02, the intended response was 8–32 for tube technique with AHG and 32–128 for CAT with AHG. The proportion of acceptable results was 90.9%–95.5% for tube technique with AHG and 95.8%–100.0% for CAT with AHG.

Conclusions: The pilot project of anti-D titer test was successfully performed. This project will be expanded to a biannual proficiency testing program for anti-D antibody titer in the Korean Association of External Quality Assessment Service starting in 2022.