Table of Contents
Introduction to the technology
A team of researchers from Australia developed a technology based on high-powered fiber lasers that is considered to be the first of its kind, resulting in the opportunity of pretransfusion testing out of the pathology lab and into point of care. The new fiber laser technology allows for improving pretransfusion testing; this fiber laser reduces blood incubation time from today’s standard of five minutes to 40 seconds.
The process of blood transfusion plays a critical role in numerous hematological conditions such as cancer, bleeding trauma, childbirth, and major surgery. The new fiber laser system enables the prevention of fatal blood transfusions for critically ill patients, even in the case of mass trauma. Additionally, high-powered fiber lasers are able to determine fetus-killing antibodies in pregnant women.
Effectiveness in critical situations
The fiber laser technology can be especially effective when such factors as time and precision are vital, for instance, in critical and emergency events like mass trauma, where it is necessary to perform pretransfusion testing quickly in order to save lives. Compared to high-powered fiber lasers, the traditional incubation technique requires more time, resulting in a remarkable effect on the survival chance of a patient.
Operating principle of the fiber laser system
The operating principle of the developed fiber laser system is based on “the laser incubation model in which a targeted illumination of a blood-antibody sample in a diagnostic gel card is converted into heat by way of photothermal absorption”. The high-powered fiber laser can heat he 75-μL blood-antibody sample to 37 °C in under 30 seconds.
Photothermal effects and rapid testing
The near-infrared fiber laser incubation demonstrates that red blood cells act as photothermal agents, causing fast antigen-antibody binding with no considerable damage to the cells or antibodies for up to 15 minutes. Therefore, the technology based on high-powered fiber lasers performs immunohematological testing faster and more sensitively than current best techniques; clearly positive results are shown from incubations of just 40 seconds.
Applications in pregnancy and antibody testing
The fiber laser system helps to discover the role of incubation time and temperature of the IgG anti-D antibody and the Rh blood group system’s D antigen. These antibodies are responsible for the hemolytic disease when the mother’s and baby’s blood types are incompatible. Precise testing by high-powered fiber lasers for pregnant women’s antibodies is highly important to save the fetus or newborn.