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An Evaluation of the Plasmacrit Test for Syphilis in a Clinical Laboratory
Author(s) -
Balows Albert,
Mcclellan James T.,
Allen Sue
Publication year - 1961
Publication title -
transfusion
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.045
H-Index - 132
eISSN - 1537-2995
pISSN - 0041-1132
DOI - 10.1111/j.1537-2995.1961.tb00034.x
Subject(s) - syphilis , medicine , rapid plasma reagin , syphilis serodiagnosis , diluent , immunology , chemistry , treponema , nuclear chemistry , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv)
The plasmacrit (PCT) is a modification of the VDRL slide test for syphilis in which plasma instead of serum is used as the source of reagin. The plasma inhibitory component is neutralized by using 10 per cent choline chloride as the diluent in the preparation of the VDRL antigen suspension. We performed the PCT and VDRL simultaneously on the plasma and serum of 2,458 individuals. There was complete agreement between the two tests in 99.4 per cent of the total number tested. Different results were obtained with 15 specimens and with only one exception, these results indicated a greater sensitivity for the PCT. We believe that the PCT may be satisfactorily employed as a screening test in a clinical laboratory or blood bank.—. A. Balows .