The introduction of 7-day platelets: a university hospital experience

Recently, the FDA approved the Post Approval Surveillance Study of Platelet Outcomes, Release Tested protocol which allows participating institutions to utilize 7 day platelets following guidelines. As one of the first hospitals to implement a 7-day protocol, we reviewed our hospital experience with 7-day Gambro apheresis platelets to determine the impact on inventory.

A review of apheresis platelet transfusions and outdate records was performed. Data were collected prospectively from March to August 2006. This data were compared with a retrospective review for the same time period in 2005.

For the 1,503 platelets transfused from March-August 2005, the mean day of issue was 3.44 (SD = 1.060). During the same time period of 2006, 1,688 platelets were transfused with a mean day of issue of 4.02 (SD = 1.083). This difference was statistically significant (P < 0.001). The outdate rate dropped from 2.9% (44/1,547) to 1.3% (22/1,710, P < 0.001). During the study period, approximately 59.7% of the platelets were 7-day platelets.

Over the 6-month period, we noted a decrease in outdates from 2.9% to 1.3%. There was a shift toward older platelets (from a mean of day 3.4 to day 4). During the study period, 139 platelets were transfused on days 6 or 7 of storage. Overall, the implementation of 7-day platelets in a university hospital setting was easily accomplished and has resulted in benefits to our institution by decreasing our outdate rate and to our patients by providing an additional 139 days 6 and 7 apheresis platelets with a potential cost savings of $78,952 (over the 6-month study).