TRANSFUSION OF PLATELET CONCENTRATES - CLINICAL-EVALUATION OF 2 PREPARATIONS

The aim of this study was to compare the clinical effect of transfusio n of platelet concentrates (PC) prepared from pooled buffy coats (BC) and PCs collected from a single donor (SD) by an apheresis technique. The influence of storage time and various clinical conditions was also studied. Thirty-two patients suffering from haematological malignanci es were given a total of 326 platelet concentrates; 180 BC-PCs and 146 SD-PCs, median 7 transfusions per patient. BC-PCs contained 312+/-152 x10(9) and SD-PCs 383+/-133x10(9) platelets/unit (mean+/-SD). The mean storage time of BC-PC was 3 d and that of SD-PC 1 d. The mean platele t count of the patients before transfusion was 11+/-8x10(9)/L. Regress ion analysis showed a significant decrease of the post-transfusion pla telet corrected count increment (CCI) during storage of PCs for 1-5 d (PC-PC: p<0.01; SD-PC: p<0.05). There was no difference in platelet in crement between BC-PC and SD-PC. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alloimm unization was the major cause of clinical refractoriness to random don or platelet transfusions but splenomegaly also caused low CCI values.