Abstract
Purpose :
To evaluate specific serologic and molecular tests systems (Abbott Architect analyser and Abbott HCV RealTime PCR) for their ability detecting viral infections such as HBV, HCV and HIV in post-mortem blood samples.
Methods :
Pre- and post-mortem blood samples from 16 cornea donors of the University Cornea Eye Bank of Heidelberg were prospectively evaluated and compared. Blood samples were spiked with reference materials of hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and analysed using serologic assays and nuclear amplification tests (NAT).
Results :
Mean age of the deceased donors was 71 yrs (range, 51-88 yrs). The mean pre- and post-mortem time to blood sample collection was 17 hrs (range, 1-72 hrs) and 18 hrs (range, 1-23 hrs), respectively. Unspiked pre-mortem and post-mortem sera revealed the same results for HBsAg, anti-HBc, anti-HCV, and HCV RNA. No false-negative or false-positive results were observed. For anti-HIV-1 and HIV-1 p24 antigen, one donor resulted in a weak positive signal in the post-mortem sample.
Conclusions :
The validated test systems proved to be appropriate in analysing pre- and post-mortem blood samples from cornea donors for viral transmitted diseases. However, positive results, regardless the sample type, should always be retested with validated confirmation tests (i.e. NAT) to differentiate between false and true positive results.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.