This Task Force document explores the ethical issues involved in the debate about the scope of genetic screening of gamete donors. Calls for expanded donor screening arise against the background of both occasional findings of serious but rare genetic conditions in donors or donor offspring that were not detected through present screening procedures and the advent of new genomic technologies pro...

The provision of suitable blood units for patients carrying clinically significant antibodies to high-frequency antigens (HFAs) is a special challenge for blood establishments. Typing of donors and screening for HFA-negative individuals is increasingly performed by genotyping. In this context the selection of the HFAs of interest, the molecular background of some model antigens, and the differe...

BACKGROUND The Hb levels of prospective blood donors are usually determined using a finger prick test. A new noninvasive Hb device has the advantage of not causing any sampling pain. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of the noninvasive Hb sensor and to compare its measurements with those of a currently used portable hemoglobinometer. METHODS Hb was measured using a noninv...

There is a substantial literature suggesting that computer-assisted interviewing has advantages over face-to-face and written self-administration of interviews in venues eliciting sensitive information similar to that sought in blood donor history screening. We review some of the recent developments in blood donor history screening, the evidence suggesting that automated interviews should be us...

It is now just over three years since it became apparent that blood and blood product therapy carried with them the risk of infecting recipients with the then unknown causative agent of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It was not long before the general public became aware of the risk of this possible means of transmission of the disease. Apprehension grew with the realization that ef...

In light of increasing organ demand in a stable supply setting, prompt and efficacious potential cardiac donor management is of paramount importance. Since the early description of the “ideal” donor by Griepp and associates in 1971 (1), the criteria by which donors are accepted— and the characteristics that determine a “high-risk” donor—have changed substantially (see Tables 1 and 2). Indeed, t...