Excel: a new frontier in haemapheresis

Haemapheresis is moving towards new prospects. The growing interest in stem cell collection, the increasing demand of single donor platelet units lead to a definition of a "new concept" of cell separator which can offer higher performance, higher selectivity and higher yield in order to guarantee superior quality and pureness of the collected product, but also higher treatment speed and easier usage, for improving user patient donor acceptability and safety level. For these reasons Dideco has developed the new Excel, an extremely innovative automatic blood cell separator, which opens new frontiers in the Haemapheresis field. The main technical features are summarized as following: automatic buffy coat level control through a CCD (charged coupled device), double eccentric-plate separation chamber (1 plate for every procedure), multi-processor system management, advanced user interface through a touch screen display, automatic fluid balancing system through load cell transducers, high-tech ergonomic design. All these innovative technologies are permitting an extremely high performance level higher PLT yield and lower WBC contamination (> 5 x 10(11) PLT with < 5 x 10(6) WBC--double leukodepleted PLT unit easy recoverable), lower procedure time (60 min for one PLT unit, 120 min for 2 unit), higher product quality (lower PLT activation, higher PLT reliability, lower complement activation-C3a), lower ACD consumption (higher withdrawal flow rates are possible), completely automatic procedure management, higher safety level, friendly and guided usage, customized protocols through a complete programmability. All these features and results also offer new standards for the field of haemapheresis through a new generation cell separator: Dideco Excel.