The application research of operative technology in detecting thalassemia

Objective:By 3 means of MCV,Red cell osmotic fragility(RCOF) test,Hemoglobin(Hb) electrophoresis to screen α and β thalassemia,and to compare their sensitivity and specificity.Methods: 322 samples of uncertain thalassemia and 100 samples of non-thalassemia verified by molecular biologic technique were detected by Hb electrophoresis and gene test. Take gene test to be the gold standard.Results:The sensitivity and specificity of 3 tests were as follow: Those of MCV were 98.8% and 72.4%,RCOF were 78.5% and 83.8%,Hb electrophoresis were 98.4% and 90.2%. There were significant differences of sensitivity between the first 2 tests. Conclusion: MCV test is more sensitive than RCOF test in screening out thalassemia,and it′s more economical and convenient to be adopted as the first choice to detect thalassemia in poorer and less complete hospitals. The veracity can be increased if Hb electrophoresis cooperates.