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The Microhematocrit Test as a Method for Evaluating Deferment by Copper Sulfate
Author(s) -
Kliman A.
Publication year - 1967
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.1537-2995.1967.tb04878.x
Subject(s) - copper sulfate , sulfate , copper , medicine , hemoglobin , surgery , chemistry , organic chemistry
Over 40,000 prospective blood donors were tested by the standard copper sulfate screening test for hemoglobin and 4.9% were found not to be acceptable. A repeat copper sulfate determination performed after a short waiting period resulted in the acceptance of 10% of the donors thus retested. Microhematocrit determinations on those donors deferred by the first copper sulfate test indicated that 63.7% of males and 44.1% of females would be acceptable using a microhematocrit standard of 40% or above for males and 38% or above for females. If a microhematocrit of 37% is used as the acceptance level for females, 59.8% of the deferred females would be acceptable. Microhematocrits performed on 1,157 donors accepted by the first standard copper sulfate test indicated that very few donors were being accepted who had unacceptable microhematocrits. Serum iron and total iron binding capacity determinations indicated that those blood donors failing the copper sulfate test but passing the microhematocrit differed from those passing the copper sulfate test, in that more low and high serum iron values were encountered in the former group. The author concludes that the copper sulfate test should be retained as the primary screening test by mobile blood collecting teams. Donors rejected by copper sulfate should be retested by the microhematocrit technic and a definite recommendation given to the donor concerning the need for medical treatment if the microhematocrit value is low.