Three-Year Experience in NAT Screening of Blood Donors for Transfusion Transmitted Viruses in Croatia.

Background: Croatia implemented individual donation (ID)-NAT testing of blood donors in 2013 for three viruses HBV, HCV, and HIV-1 as a mandatory test for all blood donors. This study assessed the impact of NAT screening 3 years after its implementation.

Methods: A total of 545,463 donations were collected and screened for HBV, HCV, and HIV-1 using the Procleix Ultrio Plus Assay.

Product recall: a Croatian experience (2000-2010).

Background: Timely and efficient recall of products known or suspected to be non-conforming is an important measure in the prevention of adverse events and in patients' safety. Product recall in the transfusion service is regulated by professional standards and legal acts, but publications presenting results related to the implementation of these procedures are quite rare.

Materials And Methods: Data from the Croatian Institute of Transfusion Medicine (CITM) on the procedures of product recall during an 11-year period (2000-2010) were retrospectively analyzed.

Evaluation of the enzyme test for the detection of clinically significant red blood cell antibodies during pregnancy.

In the Croatian transfusion medicine, no general agreement has yet been achieved whether red blood cell (RBC) Rhesus (Rh) antibodies detected during pregnancy only by enzyme tests can cause hemolytic disease of the newborn (HDN). Results of the detection of clinically significant RBC antibodies by low-ionic-strength additive solution antiglobulin test (LISS-IAT) and trypsin enzyme test in 22,947 pregnant women are presented. All pregnant women in whom clinically significant RBC antibodies (RBC-CSA) were detected by LISS-IAT and/or enzyme tests were followed and observed during pregnancy.