Use of coronary arteriography in the preoperative management of patients undergoing urgent repair of the thoracic aorta.

Noninvasive innovations have advanced the timing and precision of diagnosis of acute dissection or enlarging aortic aneurysm. However, the need to perform coronary arteriography prior to surgical repair in these patients remains a question for many clinicians. This retrospective 10-year (1978 to 1988) review examined data of 54 patients undergoing urgent surgical repair of thoracic aortic tear, aneurysm, or dissection in our institution.

'Spin, cool, and filter' red cells prepared in a regional blood center.

Red cells depleted of leukocytes by the "spin, cool, and filter" (SCF) method are effective in preventing most febrile, nonhemolytic transfusion reactions (FNHTR). To determine whether red cell concentrates may be centrifuged in a blood center and filtered subsequently at an outlying facility, the authors examined how leukocyte removal was affected by the transport and storage of centrifuged red cells before microaggregate filtration (MAF). One hundred fourteen red cell units were each divided into two aliquots.

Application of an objective biological assay of human interferons to clinical specimens and a survey of a normal population.

A rapid, quantitative, and nonsubjective method of interferon assay is described, which can be readily applied to clinical specimens. Automated data acquisition and data reduction allowed a significant increase in volume per unit of time over existing methodologies. Plasma always yielded higher (usually 2:1) interferon values than did serum obtained simultaneously.

Selective IgA deficiency in blood donors.

The frequency of selective IgA deficiency was determined in a healthy population of 6,240 blood donors. Screening for IgA deficiency was performed by double-diffusion analysis in agarose gel. Confirmation testing was performed with the more sensitive passive hemagglutination inhibition assay.