EVALUATION OF A PLATELET APHERESIS TECHNIQUE FOR THE PREPARATION OF LEUKOCYTE-REDUCED PLATELET CONCENTRATES

Objectives: Reduction of the white blood cell (WBC) contamination in p latelet concentrates (PC) protects patients from the immunological and infectious side effects of platelet transfusion caused by WBC. This c an be done either by filtration of the PC or by improved apheresis tec hniques that yield WBC-poor preparations. Methods: To evaluate an impr oved technique for platelet collection, we carried out 201 separations in 89 healthy cytapheresis donors using the new COBE Spectra leukored uction system (LRS) and compared the results with those of standard du al-needle separations obtained with the same cell separator. Results: A small but statistically significant difference was found in platelet collection efficiency in comparison with the standard non-LRS softwar e procedures (LRS: 52.6 vs. 56.3% for the reference). However, median WBC contamination was only 0.01x10(6) WBC per LRS product. This signif icant (p<0.0005) improvement corresponds to a 10-fold reduction of WBC as compared with the standard dual-needle technique. Conclusions: The COBE Spectra LRS system produced PCs with a platelet collection effic iency nearly equal to previous techniques and with a residual WBC cont ent satisfying even the most stringent criteria for WBC-depleted blood components. As this purity is achieved without important platelet los s, conventional fiber filtration no longer seems necessary in this kin d of PC.