COMPARISON OF PLATELET LOSS DURING LEUKOCYTE REDUCTION AT 4, 24, AND 48 HOURS POSTCOLLECTION USING A CLOSED-SYSTEM APHERESIS KIT WITH INTEGRAL FILTER

Prestorage leukocyte reduction of platelet concentrates may reduce adv erse effects of transfusion while affording better quality control. Pl atelets and leukocytes may undergo activation during storage, which co uld affect the performance of leukocyte reduction filters. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of leukocyte reduction a nd concomitant platelet loss with a new apheresis kit with an integral leukocyte reduction filter. Twelve donors underwent plateletpheresis on three occasions using the CS-3000 PLUS Blood Cell Separator with th e Access(TM) Management System and the Access(TM) Closed System Aphere sis Kit with Integral Sepacell(R) Leukocyte Reduction Filter and Doubl e Return Line Needle (Baxter-Fenwal Division, Deerfield, IL). Of the t hree products from each donor, one each was filtered at 4, 24, and 48 hours after completion of the plateletpheresis. Mean prefiltration pla telet count was 4.43 x 10(11) and mean postfiltration platelet count w as 3.56 x 10(11). Mean platelet recovery at 4, 24, and 48 hours filtra tion was 75%, 83%, and 84%, respectively. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) demonstrated that platelet recovery with filtration at four hours was significantly less than with filtration at 24 hours (P = 0.0236) and filtration at 48 hours (P = 0.0122). Platelet recovery with filtration at 24 hours did not differ significantly from filtration at 48 hours (P = 0.7684). Mean prefiltration WBC count was 0.93 x 10(6) and mean p ostfiltration WBC count was 0.12 x 10(6). Efficiency of leukocyte redu ction was not significantly related to when filtration was performed. There was no significant variation from donor to donor in platelet rec overy or in leukocyte reduction efficiency. This method of prestorage leukocyte reduction demonstrated slightly but statistically significan tly better platelet recovery with filtration at 24 or 48 hours after p latelet collection compared to four hours. All filtration times provid ed acceptable platelet yields with very low residual WBC. (C) 1997 Wil ey-Liss, Inc.