The direct manual PolybreneTM test (DPT) and the direct antiglobulin tests (DAT) were employed to detect antibody sensitizing red blood cell (RCB) in patients with clinical and laboratorial findings of autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA). PURPOSE: To compare the sensitivity and specificity of DPT and DAT in the diagnosis of AIHA. METHODS: Eighteen consecutive patients with diagnosis of AIHA were evaluated. The control group consisted of 20 normal volunteers blood donors and 20 patients with sickle cell anemia. All patients and controls were submitted to DPT and DAT. All DAT positive samples were further tested using monospecific reagents ( anti-IgG heavy chain and anti-C3d). Positive samples for either DPT or DAT were evaluated by eluate technique using. The dichloromethane (DCM). RESULTS: The DAT was positive in 14 patients and negative in 4 subjects, while the DPT was positive in 17 patients and negative in 1 individual who had a positive DAT owing to complement (C3d). All positive eluates performed with DCM showed RBC autoantibodies with presumed "anti-Rh" specifity. The sensitivity rate of the DPT (94%) was significantly (p<0.05) higher than the sensitivity rate of DAT (78%) to determine whether IgG was bound in vivo, but no difference was found regarding the specificity of the two tests. CONCLUSION: 1) The DPT is more sensitive than the DAT in detecting IgG autoantibody on the RBCs of patients with AIHA; 2) because of its simplicity and rapidity, the DPT is a useful additional screening test for the investigation of Coombs-negative AIHA.
Autoimmune hemolytic anemia; Direct antiglobulin test; Direct manual PolybreneTM test
