The Department was the first to fully implement the Hospital’s thrust towards unification of the Private and Clinical divisions. It was a herculean effort, but achieved just the same. The few remaining kinks are being worked out. The Blood Bank has transferred to its new site which is the old Pharmacy unit in the Private Division. Next to it is the NAT unit. The Drug Testing unit is now located in the vacated Blood Bank area.

PCR or Polymerase Chain Reaction is the latest technology in laboratory testing which scientifically is an in vitro nucleic acid amplification test for the quantitation of viral and bacterial nucleic acid in human serum or plasma. It spells unparalleled specificity and sensitivity. In layman’s parlance, it is described as “finding a needle in a haystack”. And if we may add, only the needle will be identified.

Flow cytometry, by its basic definition, is the measurement of single cells in a fluid suspension. This state-of-the-art analysis system has the capability to rapidly measure and record multiple characteristics of a large number of cells, so that even low-frequency cell populations can be quantitated with a high degree of statistical accuracy.

As relative numbers of cells of a specific lineage, and absolute counts of cell types change in response to disease, flow cytometry techniques have proven invaluable to identify each cell type, classify its characteristics, count its population and determine its functions. These information can help clinicians improve diagnosis, in treatment selection and assessment of the prognosis.

Flow cytometry applications are varied and wide. Immunophenotyping of Leukemias (Leukemia Panel) which is now available, Immune monitoring, Total DNA Content Analysis, CD 34+ Stem Cell Enumeration, Residual White Blood Cell Enumeration, Immunoplatelet Counting, HLA-B27 Screening, Diagnosis of Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria, Flow Cytometric Crossmatching, Post Transplant Monitoring of Anti-CD25 Therapy, Single-Platform Method for Absolute Cell counts and quantitative PMN CD64.

Nucleic Acid Testing is a spin-off of PCR technology. As applied in the Blood Bank, it will serve as the highest possible level of screening as this will likewise detect the nucleic acid component of the blood-borne virus. The application of NAT technology in the Blood Bank will be a pioneering effort, the first in the country. Hence, the UST Blood Bank has gone full-circle, being the first hospital blood bank to be in operations.