Efficacy and safety of Fenwal CS-3000 plateletpheresis performed at a rapid donor blood flow rate: rapid plateletpheresis with Fenwal CS-3000.

Results of 3,214 plateletpheresis procedures, using the Fenwal CS-3000 cell separator, were reviewed to determine the effects on performance when the donor blood flow rate was increased by 30% (i.e., to 65 ml/min instead of 50 ml/min). Ninety-two percent (2,962 of 3,214) of procedures completed the rapid flow protocol, and results were compared with those reported by others using the more conventional blood flow rates of 32-55 ml/min. When the rapid flow procedure was used, mean platelet yields (4.07 x 10(11)) and leukocyte contamination (2.65 x 10(8)) were satisfactory, and major donor reactions were infrequent (0.6% of procedures). Thus, CS-3000 plateletpheresis can be performed at a relatively rapid, donor blood flow rate of 65 ml/min to shorten the procedure and make it more appealing to donors.