COMPARISON OF PLATELETPHERESIS WITH A STANDARD AND AN IMPROVED COLLECTION DEVICE

A blood cell separator with a specialized separation chamber ([TNX-6] CS-3000 Plus) was developed for the collection of platelet concentrates with higher platelet yields and lower white cell contamination than obtained with the standard blood cell separator (CS-3000). To compare these devices, normal donors were scheduled for paired plateletpheresis procedures spaced 4 weeks apart, with one procedure using the CS-3000 Plus and the other using the CS-3000. Overall, the platelet yield per unit (mean +/- SEM) was 4.3 +/- 0.1 x 10(11) with the CS-3000 Plus versus 3.7 +/- 0.1 x 10(11) with the CS-3000 (p<0.001), and the white cell contamination per unit (mean +/- SEM) with the former was 2.4 +/- 0.7 x 10(6) versus 84.1 +/- 21.1 x 10(6) with the latter (p<0.001). The sequence of procedures (i.e., the order in which the devices were paired) was selected randomly, and similar results were found regardless of sequence. When donors with predonation platelet counts of >200 x 10(9) per L (n = 21) were studied separately, 76 percent of the collections by the CS-3000 Plus contained >4 x 10(11) platelets versus 34 percent of those by the CS-3000 (p<0.01), and 93 percent of the collections by the former contained <5 x 10(6) white cells (69% contained <1 x 10(6)) versus 0 percent of those by the latter (p<0.01). Thus, platelet collections with the TNX-6 chamber consistently demonstrated high platelet yields and strikingly low white cell contamination-qualities that justify converting standard devices to devices with a TNX-6 chamber.