Platelet collection with the Amicus and the AS.TEC 204 blood cell separators

Platelet collection with two new blood cell separators was compared with respect to platelet yield, separation efficiency, white cell (WBC) contamination, and measures of component quality. Both machines offer a menu for the collection of a desired platelet yield. The harvesting of a definite platelet yield is a means of collecting a standardized therapeutic platelet dose.

One hundred seventy-two platelet collections were carried out with different protocols in the two devices (Amicus and AS.TEC 204). For that reason, healthy donors underwent plateletpheresis procedures using the continuous- and discontinuous-flow systems. Separations with a definite endpoint volume and the option of collecting a desired platelet yield of 5.5 x 10(11) in the Amicus and 3.3 x 10(11) in the AS.TEC 204 machine were investigated.

With the Amicus blood cell separator, platelet yield (5.02+/-0.46 x 10[11]) and separation efficiency (66.9+/-6.2%) were significantly higher than those with the AS.TEC 204 (3.02+/-0.62 x 10[11] and 46.4+/-6.7%, respectively). There was less deviation between the platelet yield and the desired platelet yield in the AS.TEC 204 machine than in the Amicus device. WBC contamination was 2.06+/-2.91 x 10(6) in components obtained from the AS.TEC 204 machine, and 87.5 percent of the platelet concentrates had a WBC content <5 x 10(6). None of the components from the Amicus device contained more than 5 x 10(6) WBCs. Except for platelet morphology score, measures of component quality were almost equal in the platelet concentrates obtained from the studied machines.

Platelet yield and separation efficiency were significantly higher in the Amicus blood cell separator. The collection of a desired platelet yield was better achieved with the AS.TEC 204 device.