Prototype Implementation and Automatic Determination of Pre-Transfusion Tests Based on Image Processing

Introduction

Before conducting a blood transfusion is necessary to perform a set of procedures to achieve the compatibility between the blood of the individual, who need to receive blood transfusion, and to select the blood for transfusion (Rod, Tate, & Trent, 2005)(Hoffbrand, Pettit, & Moss, 2004)(Caquet, 2004). The procedures to carry out include (Mitchell, Brain, & I. Bates, 2001)(Roback, Grossman, Harris, & Hillyer, 2011)(Hammering, 2012)(Hillyer, Silberstein, Ness, Anderson, & D., 2007):

• 1.

  Determining the A, B, AB, O (ABO) and Rhesus (Rh) factor of the patient;

• 2.

  Perform reverse grouping: ABO reverse grouping of the patient;

• 3.

  Perform Rh (C, c, E and e) and Kell (K) phenotype for detecting the presence of antigens in the patient's blood. Search of other antigens may also be performed, but in few situations;

• 4.

  Perform search for antibodies to detect the presence of significant antibodies. If the search for antibodies is positive, one should perform the identification of antibodies to allow selecting compatible blood;

• 5.

  Compare the results with the previous data, if available;

• 6.

  Select the red blood cells of the donor and perform the crossmatch.

All these procedures should be performed before administering a blood transfusion in order to ensure maximum compatibility between the donor and the receiver. For performing these procedures some techniques can be used, especially the plate test (Cressiers/Morat, 2008a), the tube test (Cressiers/Morat, 2008a), the microplate test (Hoffbrand et al., 2004) or the gel centrifugation test (Cressiers/Morat, 2008b), Table 1.

Cressiers/Morat, 2008a,b; Hoffbrand et al., 2004.

*From less expensive, +, to most expensive, +++