Laboratory services
Our laboratories conduct tests to ensure the safety and quality of blood and cell products and for the treatment of patients. We serve healthcare customers every day, 24/7. The range of tests available during on-call hours include blood transfusion tests necessary for selecting compatible blood and tissue compatibility tests for organ transplants.
Blood donor tests are a key part of ensuring the safety of blood products. As in previous years, only a small number of individual cases of HIV, hepatitis B and C, and syphilis were found in blood samples from donors.
All of our laboratory’s patient tests showed an increase compared to the previous year. The largest increase was in blood group antibody tests during pregnancy, which we performed almost 7% more than in the previous year. This change was influenced, for example, by an increase in the birth rate.
The total number of tissue compatibility tests remained unchanged. More tests than before were needed for stem cell transplantation.
Blood Service laboratory tests for healthcare units
| 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tests for blood typing | 14 902 | 14 385 | 15 015 |
| Red blood cell antibody identification | 4 198 | 3 919 | 4 123 |
| Blood transfusion tests performed urgently and outside office hours | 2 727 | 2 520 | 2 568 |
| Tests on maternity clinic specimens | 66 064 | 66 956 | 71 453 |
| Tissue compatibility tests | 9 606 | 9 178 | 9 200 |
HI and hepatitis viruses (B and C) and syphilis in blood donor samples
Careful selection of blood donors means that only a few carriers of HI and hepatitis viruses are found in infection tests. The findings reflect the ability of the sensitive screening methods used to detect even small amounts of pathogens. The number of hepatitis B findings was the highest during the review period, but the absolute numbers of findings were small.
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hepatitis B | 9 | 6 | 11 | 7 | 16 |
| Hepatitis C | 8 | 11 | 14 | 20 | 10 |
| HIV | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Syphilis | 12 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 8 |
Organ transplants performed in Finland (Source: Scandiatransplant)
The Blood Service centrally performs tissue typing for all organ transplants performed in Finland, both for blood donors and patients, and assesses tissue compatibility between the recipient and the organ donor.
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kidney | 268 | 250 | 321 | 314 | 268 |
| Liver | 75 | 62 | 78 | 76 | 67 |
| Heart | 22 | 19 | 19 | 18 | 23 |
| Lungs | 24 | 20 | 28 | 18 | 27 |
| Pancreas | 31 | 20 | 28 | 22 | 25 |
| Other | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 420 | 371 | 476 | 449 | 410 |
| Deceased Finnish organ donors | 119 | 113 | 150 | 156 | 131 |
| Live Finnish organ donors (kidney) | 46 | 42 | 45 | 43 | 28 |