INTEGRATION OF CONCURRENT COLLECTION OF PLASMA INTO A PLATELETPHERESIS PROGRAM

We have reviewed our initial experience with a program of concurrent c ollection of plasma (CCP) during plateletpheresis, which was institute d to increase the number of units of fresh frozen plasma produced by o ur hospital-based donor service. Sixty percent of eligible donors (1,0 06 of 1,682) participated in CCP, and 21 donors subsequently dropped o ut of the program. Of these, only one of four first-time donors have r eturned, whereas the majority of established plateletpheresis donors ( 16 of 17) have continued to donate platelets. Additional plasma was co llected at a minimum of 8-week intervals on the Fenwal CS-3000 Plus or COBE Spectra without a change in the requirements for donor testing o r the collection procedure. The quality of these platelet products was compared to that of those donated without CCP. There was a small decr ease in platelet yield for products with CCP on the CS-3000 Plus (mean yield 4.5 x 10(11) with CCP versus 4.9 x 10(11) without CCP, P < .01) . No negative effects were seen on the percentage of products with a m inimum yield of 3 x 10(11) platelets or on leukocyte contamination. In addition, there was no difference in the rate of adverse donor reacti ons. During a 12-month interval, CCP provided 34% (3,798 of 11,266 uni ts) of all fresh frozen plasma for our hospital without additional sta ff or equipment. The results of this retrospective study suggest that CCP merits further evaluation. (C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.