Rationale for medical director acceptance or rejection of allogeneic plateletpheresis donors with underlying medical disorders

A survey was completed by 25 medical directors at different institutions performing plateletpheresis. The practices of these 25 physicians were analyzed regarding the acceptance/rejection of plateletpheresis donors with a history of cardiac disease/surgery, seizures/epilepsy, cancer, or autoimmune diseases. Although available medical literature documents little risk of these disorders either to donors (i.e., donation reactions) or to transfusion recipients (i.e., disease transmission), up to 24% of medical directors outright reject some of these potential donors while others accept patients/donors with these illnesses, providing they meet certain medical/health criteria. Acceptance/rejection of individuals with medical disorders has relevance for the availability of the blood supply and blood product shortages because several million Americans, diagnosed with these illnesses, represent a sizable pool of potential blood and platelet donors. J. Clin. Apheresis 17:111–117, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.