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BACKGROUND: In 2005, the government of Lombardy, an Italian region with an ethnically varied population of approximately 9.8 million inhabitants including 250,000 blood donors, founded the Lombardy Rare Donor Programme, a regional network of 15 blood transfusion departments coordinated by the Immunohaematology Reference Laboratory of the Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico in Milan. During 2005 to 2012, Lombardy funded LORD-P with 14.1 million euros. MATERIALS AND METHODS: During 2005-2012 the Lombardy Rare Donor Programme members developed a registry of blood donors and a bank of red blood cell units with either rare blood group phenotypes or IgA deficiency. To do this, the Immunohaematology Reference Laboratory performed extensive serological and molecular red blood cell typing in 59,738 group O or A, Rh CCDee, ccdee, ccDEE, ccDee, K- or k- donors aged 18-55 with a record of two or more blood donations, including both Caucasians and ethnic minorities. In parallel, the Immunohaematology Reference Laboratory implemented a 24/7 service of consultation, testing and distribution of rare units for anticipated or emergent transfusion needs in patients developing complex red blood cell alloimmunisation and lacking local compatible red blood cell or showing IgA deficiency. RESULTS: Red blood cell typing identified 8,747, 538 and 33 donors rare for a combination of common antigens, negative for high-frequency antigens and with a rare Rh phenotype, respectively. In June 2012, the Lombardy Rare Donor Programme frozen inventory included 1,157 red blood cell units. From March 2010 to June 2012 one IgA-deficient donor was detected among 1,941 screened donors and IgA deficiency was confirmed in four previously identified donors. From 2005 to June 2012, the Immunohaematology Reference Laboratory provided 281 complex red blood cell alloimmunisation consultations and distributed 8,008 Lombardy Rare Donor Programme red blood cell units within and outside the region, which were transfused to 2,365 patients with no untoward effects. DISCUSSION: Lombardy Rare Donor Programme, which recently joined the ISBT Working Party on Rare Donors, contributed to increase blood transfusion safety and efficacy inside and outside Lombardy.

Abstract 5091 Background The diagnosis of autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) is based on a positive direct antiglobulin test (DAT), which is performed by various methods with different sensitivity. Recently mitogen stimulated (MS)-DAT was suggested able to disclose a latent anti-erythrocyte autoimmunity Aims: To compare different traditional (tube, microcolumn and solid phase) and new (mitogen stimulated, MS)-DAT methods in different diagnostic conditions: 54 consecutive cases of hemolytic anemia of suspected autoimmune origin, 28 idiopathic AIHA in clinical remission, and 12 difficult cases of DAT-negative AIHA, and 2) to correlate results with hematologic and hemolytic parameters. Methods DAT tube, microcolumn, solid phase, and eluates were performed by standard techniques. MS-DAT was performed by stimulating whole blood with PHA, PMA and PWM and antibodies were detected by competitive solid phase ELISA. Results Forty out of 54 consecutive cases of suspected AIHA were positive by one or more tests namely 14 DAT-tube, 19 microcolumn, 19 solid phase and 35 MS-DAT. Among the 14 DAT-tube positive cases, 11 were confirmed by all test, and 3 by one or more (1 microcolumn, 1 solid phase, and 1 MS-DAT), eluates were positive in 11, and the majority of patients (10/14) showed hemolytic anemia. As regards the 26 DAT-tube negative cases, 7 were positive in microcolumn and solid-phase (eluates positive in 2/8, panreactive), and 16 in MS-DAT, although in both groups anemia and hemolytic signs were less clear. Mitogen stimulation increased the amount of RBC-bound IgG in all groups, suggesting that MS-DAT could disclose a latent autoimmunity. Tube-negative/other methods positive cases included patients with B-CLL, myelodysplasia/aplasia, and thalassemia intermedia, in which autoimmune phenomena are more frequently observed than overt clinical autoimmune diseases. MS-DAT failed to detect anti-erythrocyte antibodies in half cases AIHA in clinical remission which still were tube-positive. Finally, MS-DAT was the only positive test in 10 cases of AIHA of difficult diagnosis, and mitogen stimulation allowed the identification of autoantibody specificity in culture supernatants of 2 cases which gave weak positive results in microcolumn/solid phase only. Conclusion We concluded that a battery of tests rather than a single test is recommended for the diagnosis of AIHA, depending on the specific clinical context: tube is still a good choice for first screening, microcolumn and solid-phase, which are the automated routine, should be confirmed by a positive eluate to diagnose AIHA, although positivity without a clinical equivalent may be taken into account as part of an autoimmune habitus. MS-DAT could be considered as an additional test for selected cases of difficult diagnosis. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.