Platelet Immunology

Notes

Samples sent to NHSBT Filton. Click Here for link to NHSBT request form

Sample requirements

NAIT: Mother: 6ml clotted (serum) blood & 6ml EDTA blood; Father: 6ml EDTA blood; Baby: 1ml EDTA blood.

Platelet transfusion refractoriness: 6ml clotted (serum) blood for HPA antibody screen; 6ml EDTA blood for HPA typing.

Autoimmune thrombocytopenia: 6ml clotted (serum) blood and 18ml EDTA blood. Sample must be <72 hours from the bleed date. Discuss the case with the laboratory before taking samples. The patient should not have received platelet transfusions in the last 7 days prior to taking samples and the platelet count of the patient should be <100x109 /L. Samples should not be refrigerated.

Heparin Induced Thrombocytopenia (HIT): 6ml clotted (serum) blood.

Other drug induced antibody mediated thrombocytopenias: 6ml clotted (serum) blood, a sample of the implicated drug(s) together with the pharmacological concentration used. Discuss the case with the laboratory before taking samples.

Post Transfusion Purpura (PTP): 6ml clotted (serum) blood & 6ml EDTA blood.

Platelet membrane glycoprotein estimation: Citrated blood from patient and a travelling control from an unrelated, normal individual. Please discuss all thrombasthenia cases, including requests for DNA analysis, with the laboratory before sending.