Comparison of Different Methods Used in the Preparation of Leukocyte-Free Whole Blood and Erythrocyte Concentrates

Leukocyte-Poor CPD Blood

“…The time consuming warming of stored blood units in the water baht can be speeded up by passing the blood through a blood warming device as used by anesthetists. Compared with the procedure proposed by Halterman et al [9,10] for the preparation of leu kocyte-poor erythrocyte concentrates from stored blood [11], our method has the advantage cf not requiring an additive to the anticoagulant. Thus, the product remains sterile.…”

“…Elimination of plasma and buffy coat after filtration and short centri fugation of fresh CPD blood yields a product that compares favorably with the results of other more complicated deleukocytation methods [1,3,5,7,9,11,12], Even platelets are removed efficiently in this way. The procedure can be carried out with commercially available equipment by any blood bank technician and does not take more than 30 min once the blood has been drawn.…”

“…Differential centrifugation, sedimentation with high molecular additives or saline washing of red cells alone do not remove enough leukocytes to avoid HL-A immuni sation of recipients by a single unit of blood. Combinations of these methods in the hands of expert blood fractionists yield satisfactory results [1,3,5,7,9,11], but the procedures are time-consuming, not very reliable and often involve a high contamination risk. Frozen blood, of course, seems to be the solution to the problem, but it is not as yet available in every regional blood transfusion center.…”

“…Frozen blood, of course, seems to be the solution to the problem, but it is not as yet available in every regional blood transfusion center. Moreover, the efficiency of HL-A removal from whole blood by freezing has recently been questioned [12].Nylon wool filters have been developed [8,11] and, lately, cotton wool filters have been advocated which retain a considerable number of leukocytes if fresh blood is passed through [6], The standard procedure consists in …”

Filter Columns for Preparation of Leukocyte-Poor Blood for Transfusion

“…Inverted centrifugation, nylon filtration [2] , dextran [3] or hydroxyethyl starch [4] sedimentation, continuous flow washing [5] and use of frozen blood [6] have been used to prepare leukocyte-poor blood. Fil tration through adsorbents such as Danulon [7], cotton 'string' [8] and glass wool [9] has been also described [10,11]. Not all these methods are adequate with respect to the removal of leukocytes.…”