A randomized comparison of plateletpheresis with the same donors using four blood separators at a single blood center

At one blood center, each of 20 donors underwent plateletpheresis on four blood cell separators in random order. We compared the CS3000+, Amicus V 2.41, MCS Plus, and Spectra LRS V 7 Turbo regarding platelet (PLT) yield, pre‐ and post‐procedure PLT counts, percent fall in donor PLT count, process time, efficiency, PLT product and donor PLT volume (MPV). Using ≥ 150 × 10 9 PLTs/L pre‐donation counts, a goal was set of 4.5 × 10 11 PLTs unit in up to 100 minutes processing time. Results were (mean values) PLT yields of Amicus, Spectra, CS3000+, and MCS Plus: 4.3, 4.6, 4.3, 4.0 × 10 11 PLTS, respectively; percent donor PLT fall: 24, 32, 30, 29%, respectively; processing times: 50, 74, 87, 101 minutes, respectively; relative efficiency (RE): 2.2, 1.6, 1.2,1.0, respectively (based on the MCS Plus performance with RE of 1 = 4 × 10 9 PLTS/min); PLT product MPV: 6.7, 7.4, 6.8,7.1 fL, respectively; pre‐procedure donor MPV: 7.7, 7.3, 7.6 and 7.6 fL, respectively; and percent donor MPV change: −5.2, 0, −6.6, and −10%, respectively. Significant changes in the donor MPV were noted ( P < 0.05) but could not be related to product MPV. Spectra seemed to collect larger PLTs (higher MPV); the significance remains unknown for both donors and recipients. Importantly, all four separators gave acceptable and comparable PLT yields ( P < 0.05) with Spectra trending higher. The short process time and high RE together indicate highly efficient collections particularly by Amicus and Spectra. J. Clin. Apheresis 17:170–176, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.