PRESTORAGE LEUKOCYTE DEPLETION WITH IN-LINE FILTRATION OF WHOLE-BLOODIN COMPARISON WITH BLOOD COMPONENT LEUKOCYTE DEPLETION

In-line filtration of blood components appears to be an effective meth od to reduce white-cell-induced adverse reactions. We have investigate d whether whole blood filtration (WBF), prior to component preparation , is comparable with filtration of already prepared blood components ( CF), i.e. the red cell concentrate (RCC) and fresh plasma. Conventiona lly prepared nonfiltered blood components served as a control. No sign ificant differences for most parameters investigated were found betwee n leukodepleted RCCs and plasma units prepared by CF or WBF. All filte red RCCs and plasma units (CF and WBF) had white blood cell contaminat ions <1 x 10(5) per unit. Platelets were reduced in all filtered compo nents: 95% in plasma and 99% in RCCs. Fresh-frozen plasma (FFP) prepar ed by CF and WBF had normal amounts of factors V; VIII, von Willebrand factor and thrombin-antithrombin-III complexes, whereas platelet fact or 4 (PF-4) was slightly increased in FFP prepared by WEE RCCs and pla sma units prepared from filtered whole blood (n = 20) had a significan tly greater volume (RCC: 288 +/- 19 ml, plasma: 274 +/- 20 ml) than co nventionally prepared (n = 20) and filtered products (RCC: 257 +/- 19 ml, plasma: 259 +/- 19 ml). For early filtration of blood components, WBF prior to component preparation seems to offer an interesting techn ique for obtaining a leukocyte-depleted RCC and FFP.