EFFICIENT COLLECTION OF PERIPHERAL-BLOOD STEM-CELLS USING THE FRESENIUS AS104 IN CHRONIC MYELOCYTIC-LEUKEMIA PATIENTS WITH VERY HIGH NUMBERS OF PLATELETS

For chronic myelocytic leukemia patients with very high numbers of pla telets, we describe an efficient method for the collection of peripher al blood stem cells (PBSC) using the Fresenius AS104 cell separator, I n these patients, it is difficult to collect a sufficient number of PB SC, due to the platelet band interfering with the machine's red cell i nterface sensor, We, therefore, tried a manual adjustment of the devic e, The collection phase was set automatically, When the whole blood be gan to separate into the red cell layer and plasma (plus mononuclear c ell) layer, the red cell interface setting of ''7:1'' was changed to ' 'OFF,'' and the plasma pump flow rate was controlled manually in order to locate the interface position 1 cm from the outside wall of the ce ntrifuge chamber, After the collection phase, the procedure was return ed to the automatic setting, By repeating this procedure, we were able to collect large numbers of PBSC.