Cold Agglutinin Titer, Quantitative

Sample type:

• Serum.

Uses:

• Detection of the presence of cold agglutinins in patients with suspected cold agglutinin disease.

• To help determine the cause of hemolytic anemia.

Precautions:

• Transport blood immediately to laboratory.

• Incubate at 37°C and allow to clot at 37°C. Separate serum from cells.

• If there is not a 37°C incubator, allow to clot at room temperature and separate serum from cells immediately after clotting.

• Do not refrigerate prior to separation of serum from red cells. Store separated serum in refrigerator.

Interfering Factors:

• False-negative results may occur if the sample is refrigerated prior to the separation of the serum from the red blood cells.

Pre analytical errors:

1. Inappropriate specimen received.

2. Unlabeled specimen or name discrepancy between specimen and request label;

3. Specimen received after prolonged delay (usually more than 72 hours);

4. Specimen received in expired transport container.

Corrective action:

1. Appropriate specimen received.

2. Labeled specimen and no name discrepancy between specimen and request label.

3. Specimen received without delay.

4. Specimen received in valid transport container.

Post analytical errors:

1. Failure in reporting.

2. Erroneous validation of analytical data.

3. Improper data entry.

Corrective action:

1. Write correct report.

2. All analytical data should be valid.

3. Proper data entry.

Reference range:

• Negative: <1:32