Comparison of three commercially available buffy coat pooling sets for the preparation of platelet concentrates

Background A disposable set for platelet concentrate (PC) preparation by the buffy coat method allows pooling of buffy coats, centrifugation and cell separation with in‐line leucocyte filtration. This study compares three commercially available pooling sets in combination with INTERCEPT pathogen inactivation (PI). Materials and methods Sets for pooling of buffy coats were from Fresenius Kabi (FRE), Macopharma (MAC) and Terumo BCT (TER). Platelet yield, recovery and concentration were compared before and after PI (n = 20). Platelet quality was assessed by annexin V binding, P‐selectin expression and PAC1 binding. Results The TER pooling set had the highest platelet yield (5·39 ± 0·44 × 10 11 ) compared with MAC (4·53 ± 0·77) and FRE (4·56 ± 0·51) prior to PI. This was the result of a significantly higher platelet concentration in the TER storage bag (1·41 ± 0·12 × 10 6 /μL) compared with MAC (1·18 ± 0·19) and FRE (1·28 ± 0·15). However, the TER platelet content decreased by 15·6% after PI , yielding 4·55 ± 0·47 × 10 11 platelets compared with smaller reductions at 9·5% for MAC (4·10 ± 0·69) and 4·4% for FRE (4·36 ± 0·52). None of the individual PC contained >10 6 leucocytes. The pH in TER PC was lower compared with MAC and FRE caused by a higher lactic acid production rate. Consequently, PAC1 binding after TRAP activation was lowest for TER PC on day 6. P‐selectin and annexin V were not different between suppliers. Conclusion This study demonstrates the added value of evaluating the entire component production process when introducing a new consumable. This study helped to inform a decision on what pooling set is ideally suited for routine implementation taking into account PI.