Issue link: https://ahint.epubxp.com/i/574474
35 ASHI Quarterly Third Quarter 2015 Present and Past Program Directors of the ASHI Proficiency Testing Committee The ASHI Proficiency Testing Committee receives relevant questions from our PT participants, and many common themes and questions emerge In this article, we share some recent questions about the antibody screening and crossmatch survey (AC survey) The AC survey is designed to assess laboratory performance in HLA Class I and Class II serum screening/ antibody detection, and HLA antibody identification and crossmatching (T-cells and B-cells) For those not familiar with the ASHI AC survey, it consists of two shipments annually of five serum or recalcified plasma samples plus two whole blood specimens per shipment Please see the website for more details: http://www ashi-hla org/lab-center/pt-program/ We hope you find these answers to FAQs helpful QUESTION: Is there a PT for complement-binding antibodies? ANSWER: Yes! Solid phase testing of complement fixing antibodies was added as a broad method of antibody identification in 2013 Starting in 2015, antibody identification results reported for complement fixing antibody ID methods are being graded in the same way that standard single antigen bead results are graded The results are entered in the same format as all "antibody identification" methods as well Please identify the complement fixing antibody kit that was used and please make comments about any assay/kit modifications QUESTION: We have challenges with getting enough viable cells to perform the crossmatches, and many samples suffer from hemolysis or poor cell quality. Can ASHI PT fix this problem? Can we get more cells sent to us? ANSWER: We recognize that some laboratories received samples with inadequate cell numbers and viability To address this issue, we have taken several steps in recent years to improve the quality and viability, some that have worked well while other fixes were expensive (and/or didn't resolve the issue) or not sustainable Two specific changes have appeared to improve quality: 1) the PT vendor screening additional whole blood units so that higher quality cells may be chosen; 2) the PT vendor now receives the whole blood units in special room-temperature insulated shipping containers that are shipped via overnight ground transportation These changes appear to have sufficiently improved the cell quality based on the cell quality reported by our participating laboratories since their implementation Additional cells and serum samples can be ordered using the ACS and ACC survey codes Currently, the ASHI PT Program includes three groups for cell distribution in order to provide cells to all our participants The crossmatch results are graded for consensus within each of these groups Should the PT Program received many more cell orders, we may need to add a fourth group for cells to accommodate these orders QUESTION: I am unable to enter the crossmatch results on ASHI website for AC1. There is nothing on the screen to enter! ANSWER: Make sure you have selected the cells and enter the sample quality This is the most common question for AC data entry, and it's an easy thing to overlook! QUESTION: Why did we get a discrepant grade for an antibody identification method? The summary report says that we did not enter any specificities, but we know that we entered the results and even have a printout of the data we entered! Is this a software issue? ANSWER: Having a printout of the entered results is very helpful, but in some cases, our PT Program data managers can go behind the scenes to see when changes were made The following scenario has happened more than once, so it's a good reminder for everyone: If you have selected a kit and selected that specificities were reported, the software offers the page to enter antibody specificities However, if someone changes the kit and/or result (detected vs not detected), the specificities that you have clicked as positive will be reset to empty fields, even if the result gets changed back to "detected"! Therefore, we always strongly encourage everyone to: 1) print your final results immediately prior to submitting, 2) review the final results thoroughly before submitting, and 3) save the final printout for reference C O M M I T T E E A C T I V I T I E S PT Committee Update FAQs about the AC Proficiency Testing Survey Carley Shaut, PhD, D(ABHI) Anne Halpin, MSc, CHS