A Comparative Assessment of Quality of Platelet Concentrates Prepared by Buffy Coat Poor Platelet Concentrate Method and Apheresis Derived Platelet Concentrate Method.

Many blood centres in country don't have costly apheresis technology and rely heavily on the platelet production from whole blood donation. We conducted this study with the aim to compare the quality of platelet concentrates (PC) prepared by Buffy Coat derived (BC-PC) and apheresis derived platelet concentrate (Apheresis-PC). Our objective was to collect data by analysis of platelet concentrates prepared by BC-PC methods and Apheresis-PC methods in respect of swirling, volume, platelet count, WBC count and pH of the PC units and elaborate on the quality parameters. Tertiary Care Hospital and Medical College. We assessed a total of 200 BC-PC and 200 Apheresis-PC for their in vitro quality by observing swirling, volume of PC, platelet count/unit, WBC count/unit and pH, to see if they satisfy the recommended quality criteria. Data was analyzed using appropriate statistical technique under the guidance of biostatistician. Apheresis-PC units showed better swirling than BC-PC units (Chi square test; P < 0.05). There was a significant difference in proportion of units satisfying the required volume QC between the two methods (Chi-square test; P < 0.05). Apheresis-PC showed better adherence to the physiological pH values (Student's unpaired t test; P < 0.05). The units of BC-PC and Apheresis-PC did not show significant difference in proportion of units satisfying the Platelet count per unit and residual WBC count per count (Chi square; P 0.203 and 0.617 respectively). There was comparable adherence to QC requirement for platelet count and WBC contamination in two methods. BC-PC were found to be adhering lesser to QC parameters for swirling, volume and pH, but found to be in required QC limits. BCPC can be used effectively in the majority of thrombocytopenic patients in resource poor setting.