title: Point of care hemoglobin testing in plateletpheresis donors: Noninvasive versus invasive methods.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Predonation hemoglobin (Hb) for plateletpheresis donors is estimated by presently available invasive methods. Venous samples of only those donors whose Hb is more than 12.5 g/dl are screened for complete blood count and transfusion transmissible infections. There is a pressing need to substitute this invasive Hb test with noninvasive one to reduce donor discomfort and avoid further pricking the donor. We therefore went ahead with the aim of comparing a noninvasive Hb estimation method NBM 200 with the invasive method - Hemocue, taking SYSMEX KX-21 as a gold standard.
  
  
  METHODS
  500 voluntary consenting plateletpheresis donors qualifying the laid down criteria for platelet donation were included in the study. Hb readings obtained by the NBM 200 and Hemocue were compared to those obtained from the fully automated hematology analyzer SYSMEX KX-21.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Coefficients of correlation were found to be statistically significant at <0.0001 level of confidence. Results of Friedman's test on the three methods also showed significant difference in means. Bland-Altman plots and mountain plots also confirm the same. NBM 200 was found to be more sensitive, specific, and precise than Hemocue in detecting ineligible donors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  NBM 200 was found to be more sensitive, specific, and precise as compared to Hemocue for predonation screening of Hb in plateletpheresis donors and the prime benefit it offers is that it is 'noninvasive' thereby assisting in stemming the platelet donor pool. The onus lies on the blood transfusion services to make use of appropriately validated gadgets that reduce the donor discomfort.
authors.affiliation: Professor, Department of Immunohaemotology and Blood Transfusion, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune 411040, India.
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Mallhi
authors.affiliation: Resident, Department of Immunohaemotology and Blood Transfusion, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune 411040, India.
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pawar
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Immunohaemotology and Blood Transfusion, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune 411040, India.
authors.forename: Neerja
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kushwaha
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Immunohaemotology and Blood Transfusion, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune 411040, India.
authors.forename: Sudeep
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Resident, Department of Immunohaemotology and Blood Transfusion, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune 411040, India.
authors.forename: Ujjwal
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Dimri
keywords: Hemocue; Hemoglobin estimation; Invasive versus noninvasive; NBM 200; SYSMEX KX-21