title: Evaluation of the flow cytometric crossmatch. Preliminary results of a multicenter study.
abstract: The flow cytometric crossmatch is a technique that is increasingly being used by clinical transplant laboratories. In this multicenter study by the British Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics Flow Cytometry Group, a series of crossmatches were carried out to determine whether different centers obtained same results when performing the same crossmatch. There was greater than 80% agreement among participating laboratories on the results of 35/54 tests. There was no clear agreement in the remaining 20 cases. Quantitative analysis, estimating the number of cell-bound fluorescein molecules, demonstrated that differences in the criteria used by each center to define a positive crossmatch were responsible for some discordant results. When applied, definition of positivity based on the molecules of fluorescein increased concordance from 57.5% to 81.4%.l. These results suggest that a criterion for the interpretation of results based on quantitative analysis of bound antibody may be more reliable than methods in current routine use.
authors.affiliation: South Thames Tissue Typing, Guy's Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: A W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Harmer
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Garner
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Anyanwu
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cavanagh
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Culkin
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Horsburgh
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: McCloskey
authors.forename: W M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Reynolds
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Robson
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sutton
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Van Dam
authors.forename: B K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Shenton
mesh_terms: D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing; D006801:Humans