A scalable, micropore, platelet rich plasma separation device

We have designed a novel, low energy platelet-rich-plasma (PRP) separator capable of producing 50 mL of PRP in 30 min, intended for military and emergency applications. Blood flows over a 3 mm length of sieve at high rates of shear. A plasma-platelet filtrate passes through the sieve's pores while erythrocytes remain. The filtrate is flowed over a second 3 mm length of smaller-pored sieve that withdraws plasma. Bulk blood volume is maintained by returning platelet-free plasma to the erythrocyte pool, enabling a nearly complete multi-pass platelet extraction. The total percentage of platelets extracted is:θ(T)=1-exp (-V(f)(T)Φ(P)/V) where V is the original plasma volume, V ( f )(T) is the total filtered volume, and ϕ ( P ) is platelet passage ratio (filtrate concentration/bulk average concentration) taken to be constant. Maximum θ(T) occurs at maximum V ( f )(T)× ϕ ( P ) Test microsieves, 3 mm long × 3 mm wide, were used. ϕ ( P ) values measured at various filtrate flow rates (20-100 uL/min) and utilizing various filter pore sizes (1.2-3.5 μm), was as high as 150 %. Maximum V ( f )(T)× ϕ ( P ) was achieved utilizing the 3.5 um filters at the highest flow rate, 100 uL/min. Erythrocyte leakages were always below 2,000/uL, far below the allowable limit stipulated by the American Association of Blood Banking. These data imply that a 13.7 cm(2) filter area is sufficient to achieve the target separation of 50 mL of platelet concentrate in 30 min. The filtration cartridge would consist of multiple microporous strips of 3 mm width arranged in parallel so that each element would see the conditions used in the prototype experiments presented here. Other microfiltration schemes suggest no method of scaling to practical levels.