NESTROFT AS A SCREENING TEST FOR BETA THALASSEMIA

NESTROFT (Naked Eye Single Tube Red Cell Osmotic Fragility Test) is simple, inexpensive and very sensitive test for screening of beta thalassemia, a form of congenital hemolytic anemia. , It is used to assess osmotic fragility of red cells at a single concentration of buffered saline (0.36% in single tube) visually without a spectrophotometer. Positive NESTROFT indicates decreased red cell osmotic fragility and increased resistance to osmotic lysis. Here we studied 100 random cases and positive cases were later confirmed by HbA2 electrophoresis.