PLT-30: an improvement for platelet collection on the Baxter CS-3000 Plus

The CS-3000 is a well-established blood cell separator. To increase the efficiency of platelet collection, Baxter developed a new separation chamber, the TNX-6, for the follow-up model of the CS-3000, the CS-3000 Plus. To reduce the occurrence of platelet aggregates and to increase platelet yield and efficiency the collection chamber A-35 has been replaced by a new, volume-reduced chamber called PLT-30. We analyzed on the basis of 201 platelet separation procedures with the CS-3000 Plus fitted with both new chambers the efficiency of platelet collection. The platelet yield per unit (mean +/- SE) was 4.55 x 10(11) +/- 0.07 x 10(11) and the efficiency was 50.79 +/- 0.76%; only 3.98% of the platelet concentrates were below 3 x 10(11). To compare our data with results from the A-35 we enrolled 33 random donors (17 in Innsbruck, 16 in Vienna) in a controlled study. Using both chambers in a randomly selected sequence within a period of 1 month on each chamber, we evaluated platelet yield, efficiency, and the contamination with white blood cells (WBCs). We found a platelet yield per unit (mean +/- SE) of 3.74 x 10(11) +/- 0.11 x 10(11) using the A-35 and of 4.4 x 10(11) +/- 0.21 x 10(11) with the new PLT-30 (P = .0001). The efficiency of the collecting process (mean +/- SE) was higher with the PLT-30 (47.76 +/- 2.11%) than with the A-35 (40.68 +/- 1.29%). The difference is statistically significant (P = .0001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)