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. 2024 Jun;25(2):509-520.
doi: 10.1007/s10561-023-10106-z. Epub 2023 Aug 25.

Preanalytical variables influencing the interpretation and reporting of biological tests on blood samples of living and deceased donors for human body materials

Elizaveta Padalko  1   2   3 , Luc Colenbie  4   5 , Alain Delforge  4   6 , Nadine Ectors  4   7 , Johan Guns  4   8 , Romain Imbert  4   9 , Hilde Jansens  4   10 , Jean-Paul Pirnay  4   11 , Marie-Pierre Rodenbach  4   12 , Ivan Van Riet  4   13 , Anne Vansteenbrugge  4   9 , Gilbert Verbeken  4   11 , Muriel Baltes  4 , Hilde Beele  4   14
Affiliations

Preanalytical variables influencing the interpretation and reporting of biological tests on blood samples of living and deceased donors for human body materials

Elizaveta Padalko et al. Cell Tissue Bank. 2024 Jun.

Abstract

With the present paper, the Working Group on Cells, Tissues and Organs and other experts of the Superior Health Council of Belgium aimed to provide stakeholders in material of human origin with advice on critical aspects of serological and nucleic acid test (NAT) testing, to improve virological safety of cell- and tissue and organ donation. The current paper focusses on a number of preanalytical variables which can be critical for any medical biology examination: (1) sampling related variables (type of samples, collection of the samples, volume of the sample, choice of specific tubes, identification of tubes), (2) variables related to transport, storage and processing of blood samples (transport, centrifugation and haemolysis, storage before and after centrifugation, use of serum versus plasma), (3) variables related to dilution (haemodilution, pooling of samples), and (4) test dependent variables (available tests and validation). Depending on the type of donor (deceased donor (heart-beating or non-heart beating) versus living donor (allogeneic, related, autologous), and the type of donated human material (cells, tissue or organs) additional factors can play a role: pre- and post-mortem sampling, conditions of sampling (e.g. morgue), haemodilution, possibility of retesting.

Keywords: Biological test; Deceased; Donor of human body material; Living; Post-mortem; Preanalytical variables.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors of this article are experts of the Working Group on Cells, Tissues and Organs of the Superior Health Council of Belgium. All experts provided a general and an ad hoc declaration of interests and the Committee on Deontology of the Superior Health Council of Belgium assessed the potential risk of conflicts of interest. All experts joined the working group in a private capacity. Their general declarations of interests can be viewed on the official website of the Superior Health Council of Belgium: https://www.health.belgium.be/en/ conflicts-interests.

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