Evaluation of an immunochromatographic strip test for alpha-thalassaemia screening.

Introduction: Hb H inclusion test (HbH-i) commonly used for α-thalassaemia screening is not standardised and is labour-intensive. This study evaluated a strip test based on immunochromatographic detection of Hb Bart's (ICT) for use as a routine screening test for α-thalassaemia screening in the clinical laboratory setting.

Methods: The performance characteristics of the ICT was determined by comparing the results of ICT and HbH-i on 67 patients, and the α-globin genotype on 47 of these patients who also had the molecular analysis.

Hb Feilding [β12(A9)Thr → Pro; HBB: c.37A>C]: a novel unstable β-globin chain variant.

We report here a patient heterozygous for a previously unreported β chain variant. A 72-year-old Caucasian female was found to have an abnormal hemoglobin (Hb) as an incidental finding following Hb A1C analysis. There was no family history of anemia or hemoglobinopathy.