[Hematological changes induced by erythrocytapheresis]

Although automated cell separators (apheresis) have undergone a lot of technical refinements, the effect of the procedure on hematological indices of donors is rarely taken into account. The purpose of this study is to identify potential hematologic changes in donors undergoing erythrocytapheresis.

30 apparently healthy adult donors were evaluated. Erythrocytapheresis procedure was performed using automated equipment. Hematologic measurements (hemoglobin, hematocrit, white blood cells counts and platelets) were analyzed before and after erythrocytapheresis in all donors.

We observed a significant decrease in the donors in hemoglobin (p <0.0001), hematocrit (p <0.0001), leukocytes (p <0.0001), lymphocytes (p = 0.0267), and platelets (p <0.0001). On the other hand, we found no changes in segmented, monocytes, eosinophils and basophils post erythrocytapheresis.

In this study we found a significant drop in complete blood count in blood donation procedure by erythrocytapheresis; there are hematological changes in both red and white cells in all donors; however, none of donors manifested symptoms of thrombocytopenia or anemia. This study demonstrates hematological changes post-donation and therefore requires larger multicenter studies, in order to establish guidelines for donors' safety in apheresis and also help in assessing donor suitability, especially given the present trend of double product apheresis collections.