GERMAN MULTICENTER STUDIES ON PLATELETPHERESIS FROM HEALTHY DONORS

It is reported on two German Multicenter Plateletpheresis Studies with the Fresenius AS 104 cell separator accompanied by a Multicenter Coun ting Study. 15 centers participated, a total of 1884 separations were evaluated. It could be shown that multicenter studies help to give a m ore objective opinion about a cell separator and the separation protoc ol used if it is possible to improve the counting methods and to elimi nate individual center effects by an accompanying Multicenter Counting Study. The AS 104 proved to be a good cell separator for platelet col lection regarding platelet yields (3.1 x 11(11) from 3.5 \ citrated bl ood), separation efficiency (about 45%), yield prediction (SD =double dagger 15%) and leukocyte contamination (median WBC 47x10(6)).