ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The plateletpheresis yields are important to meet standard platelet transfusion doses and single donor platelets (SDPs) with fewer than 3.0x1011 can not be issued without approval from hospitals according to the regulations of Korea Red Cross blood center. This study evaluates platelet yields and plateletpheresis parameters of three different cell separators. METHODS: We used Amicus (Baxter, Deerfield, IL, U.S.A.), MCS+ (Haemonetics, Braintree, MA, U.S.A.) and Trima (Gambro BCT, Lakewood, U.S.A.) and collected a total of 2,303 units of leukocyte-reduced SDP(LRSDP). All separators were set up to target a platelet yield of 3.2x1011 and parameters were recorded for each collection. All units were divided into group 1(optimal platelet counts/unit) by platelet yields and separators. RESULTS: Three cell separators did not show any differences in the mean values of platelet yields. SDPs with 3.0x1011 or over were 87%, 91% and 87%, respectively. SDPs with more than optimal platelet counts per unit were 2%, 1% and 2%, respectively. SDPs collected by Trima had significantly higher values for pre-platelet count, total processing blood volume and used ACD volume. SDPs collected by MCS+ showed significant differences between groups in evaluated parameters including longer collecting time. CONCLUSION: All three separators provided satisfactory platelet yields with no significant differences among them. But platelet yields less than 3.0x1011 accounted for 9-13% of all collections. This study demonstrated that qualified management and thorough understanding of the plateletpheresis technology are necessary to increase productivity of SDPs with 3.0x1011 or over. It is also necessary to introduce new regulations and criteria for platelet yields, e.g. the yield-based pricing system.