Carter BloodCare, a blood center serving 200 medical facilities in more than 50 counties across Texas, has become only the second blood center in the United States to receive the Molecular Testing Accreditation for Red Cell Antigens, from the international organization AABB.
Molecular testing is a technique used to assess an individual’s genetic code, or genetic makeup.
The testing can predict a patient’s or blood donor’s red blood cell phenotype, which can help give an accurate patient diagnosis, and when required, the transfusion of molecular-matched, compatible red blood cells for optimal treatment.
“This accreditation gives our medical facility customers yet another reason to trust the level of complexity and quality service Carter BloodCare can deliver,” said Dr. William Crews, medical director of Carter BloodCare’s laboratory services. “As a blood center participant in America’s Rare Donor Program (ARDP), molecular testing enables us to increase our active rare donor contributions to the registry and help to fulfill the requests for rare blood across the United States.”
Crews said the testing will help the blood center reduce client costs and testing time as well as help increase patient safety.
In 2015, Carter BloodCare registered 221 new, rare donors into the ARDP because of molecular
testing, bringing to 317, the total number of active rare donors that Carter BloodCare has registered into the program. In just the fourth quarter last year, 98 rare units were shipped in the center’s service area.
In 2015 the blood center also was able to provide 18 units of rare blood, identified through molecular testing, to ARDP participants nationally.