A SIMPLE MORPHOLOGICAL SCORE FOR THE QUALITY-CONTROL OF PLATELET CONCENTRATES

The percentage of platelets that retain discoid form correlate with th eir post-transfusion viability and therefore they may act as a simple indicator for the quality of the stored platelet concentrates (PCs). T he morphological score (MS) of platelets, given by Kunicki, requires t he index of different forms of platelets: discoid, spherical, starlike and bizarre. In the present study, we intended to clarify whether the morphological score of discoid platelets alone could serve as a metho d for the estimation of PCs quality. During the first five days after preparation, samples of standard platelet concentrates (SPCs) and of l eucodepleted platelet concentrates (LDPCs) were analyzed morphological ly by immersion light microscopy using smears stained by the May-Grunw ald-Giemsa method. In addition to the MS, an original Modified Morphol ogical Score (MMS), for a population of 200 platelets, was used to cou nt platelets with the discoid shape. The mean MMS ranged (first to fif th day) from 192.6 to 166.6 with SPCs and from 197.2 to 185.4 with LDP Cs. There is a significant difference (ANOVA) between: (a) PCs prepare d by different techniques (p < 0.01); (b) the quality of the same PCs during the storage (p < 0.0001).