Prenatal Antibody Screening with a Fully Automated Filter Paper Hemagglutinating Machine

Abstract

A fully automated two-channel filter paper (FP) hemagglutinating machine was developed for the detection in prenatal sera of the large majority of antibodies related to hemolytic disease of the newborn. In the tests of 9738 first trimester sera, 50 with anti-Rh₀, one with anti-rh′, three with anti-rh″, and four with anti-hr′ were found. Parallel studies of the prenatal sera with sensitive manual methods and with an automated colorimeter-recorded (CR) machine gave equivalent results. The productivity of the FP machine compared with manual methods and its simplicity relative to the CR machine indicate that the FP machine is satisfactory for the purpose for which it was developed.