Use of electron-beam sterilized hemodialysis membranes is not associated with significant and persistent thrombocytopenia.

Significant thrombocytopenia following hemodialysis with electron-beam (e-beam) sterilized membranes has been recently reported in a large-scale Canadian study. However, the underlying mechanism and the clinical significance of this finding remain undetermined as yet. We prospectively evaluated for a 4-month period the thrombocytopenic effect of the e-beam sterilized dialyzers as compared to the steam sterilized ones in two groups of well-controlled hemodialysis patients. There were no significant differences in pre- and post-dialysis platelet counts of patients using e-beam-sterilized dialyzers compared to those using steam-sterilized ones. Furthermore, no statistically significant differences between pre- and post-dialysis platelet counts were found throughout the study in the e-beam-sterilized group. However, 1 out of 9 patients demonstrated significant post-dialysis thrombocytopenia in 2/4 measurements. In conclusion, our study data do not support a continuously occurring thrombocytopenic effect in patients dialyzed with e-beam sterilized membranes. Further studies are needed to determine whether and how the use of e-beam sterilization may impact the interaction between certain membranes and platelets.