Experience of buffy coat pooling of platelets as a supportive care in thrombocytopenic dengue patients: A prospective study

Random donor platelet (RDP) is not sufficient to improve the platelet count in most thrombocytopenic patients. Single donor platelet (SDP) or buffy coat pooled platelet (BCPP) are the two choices to provide a full therapeutic dose of platelets. However, there are constraints in the preparation of SDP due to stringent donor selection procedure, time required for procedure, and need of special expensive equipments and kits. BCPP is widely practiced, especially in the European countries, since 1995. In India, we decided to adopt the procedure of buffy coat pooling of platelets, especially for economically backward patients and for emergencies. This study was prospectively conducted from September 2009 to September 2010. A total of 129 units of BCPP [tested prior for viral markers by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and individual donor nucleic acid amplification test (ID-NAT)] were issued to 129 patients suffering from dengue and were included in this study. For comparison between efficacy of SDP and BCCP, patients were divided into two groups of 50 each. The post-transfusion platelet counts of the patients were noted after 2 hours of transfusion for each type of component. The platelet yield varied from 2.5 to 4.4 Χ 10(11) in BCPP samples. The samples analyzed were sterile without any contamination. The different biochemical parameters were analyzed in detail. The observed post-transfusion platelet recovery and corrected count increment (CCI) at 1 hour and 24 hours after BCPP transfusion were similar to that after SDP transfusion. Hence, we concluded that BCPP can be a low cost alternative to SDP in the times of emergencies like dengue and non-affordability by the patient for SDP.