Chinchilla-Reyes, C.

AbstractBackgroundBefore the 2014 policy change pertaining to infectious disease screening, many organ procurement organizations (OPOs) were supplementing serologic screening of deceased organ donors with nucleic acid testing (NAT) for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV‐1), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV). The number of seronegative,NAT‐positive donors has not been directly measured.MethodsHIV,HBV, andHCVscreening results of 11 229 donor referrals evaluated from 2010 to 2013 were obtained from 3OPO‐affiliated laboratories, capturing 35% of all donors in the United States. Laboratories used either polymerase chain reaction assay or transcription‐mediated amplification assay to test 9643 deceased donors byNAT.ResultsTheNATresults were positive in 21 (0.2%), 1 (0.02%), and 11 (0.1%) donors who were seronegative forHIV,HBV, andHCV, respectively. All discordantHIV‐1 results were from one laboratory using a polymrease chain reaction assay. Thirteen of the reactiveHIV NATresults in seronegative referrals were repeated and were non‐reproducibly positive (NRP). Ten (0.1%), 452 (7.8%), and 197 (2.2%) ofHIV‐,HBV‐, andHCV‐seropositive donors, respectively, were negative byNAT.ConclusionsThis study highlights the importance of robust quality assurance to minimizeNRP NATresults.NATmay allow for increased utilization of organs fromHBV‐ andHCV‐seropositive,NAT‐negative donors.