PLT-30 - AN IMPROVEMENT FOR PLATELET COLLECTION ON THE BAXTER CS-3000-PLUS

The CS-3000 is a well-established blood cell separator. To increase th e efficiency of platelet collection, Baxter developed a new separation chamber, the TNX-6, for the follow-up model of the CS-3000, the CS-30 00 Plus. To reduce the occurrence of platelet aggregates and to increa se platelet yield and efficiency the collection chamber A-35 has been replaced by a new, volume-reduced chamber called PLT-30. We analyzed o n the basis of 201 platelet separation procedures with the CS-3000 Plu s fitted with both new chambers the efficiency of platelet collection. The platelet yield per unit (mean +/- SE) was 4.55 x 10(11) +/- 0.07 x 10(11) and the efficiency was 50.79 +/- 0.76%; only 3.98% of the pla telet concentrates were below 3 x 10(11). To compare our data with res ults from the A-35 we enrolled 33 random donors (17 in Innsbruck, 16 i n Vienna) in a controlled study. Using both chambers in a randomly sel ected sequence within a period of 1 month on each chamber, we evaluate d platelet yield, efficiency, and the contamination with white blood c ells (WBCs). We found a platelet yield per unit (mean +/- SE) of 3.74 x 10(11) +/- 0.11 x 10(11) using the A-35 and of 4.4 x 10(11) +/- 0.21 x 10(11) with the new PLT-30 (P = .0001). The efficiency of the colle cting process (mean +/- SE) was higher with the PLT-30 (47.76 +/- 2.11 %) than with the A-35 (40.68 +/- 1.29%). The difference is statistical ly significant (P = .0001). Comparing the contamination of the platele t concentrates with WBCs no significant differences could be found (P = .35). Our results demonstrate that the use of the new collection cha mber PLT-30 in combination with the separation chamber TNX-6 significa ntly increases platelet yield and efficiency per unit, while no decrea se of the contaminating WBCs could be obtained. (C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, I nc.