Platelet washing to prevent recurrent febrile reactions to leucocyte-reduced transfusions

Symptoms of fever and/or rigours after transfusion continue to occur common ly in patients receiving platelets leucocyte-reduced after storage. A cohor t of 24 consecutive patients who had experienced severe or repeated febrile nonhaemolytic reactions to post-storage leucocyte-reduced platelet transfu sions were treated with saline-washed, post-storage leucocyte-reduced plate lets. The frequency of reactions declined from 20% of transfusions (n=191) to 0.6% (n = 331) after instituting saline-washed, post-storage leucocyte-r educed platelet transfusions. These results support the hypothesis that sub stances present in the supernatant of stored platelet concentrates mediate febrile nonhaemolytic transfusion reactions, and provide one strategy for p reventing their occurrence.