Utilization of a new strength citrate anticoagulant during centrifugal plateletpheresis. I. Assessment of donor effects.

A reduction of donor effects during centrifugal plateletpheresis with the Haemonetics Blood Processor was achieved by reducing the concentration of the citrate anticoagulant. Serum citrate and ionized calcium levels, immediately and 1 h post-pheresis, were affected to a lesser extent by using 5.0 g total ionized citrate (TIC) THAN WITH EITHER 8.0 G OR 11.0 G. Total calcium, bicarbonate, prothrombin time, partial thromboplastin time, ECG, and platelet counts were affected to a similar degree by all three TIC formulations. The total number of platelets collected per litre of blood processed was not significantly different among the three TIC formulations. In vitro studies employing the screen filtration pressure (SFP) technique showed no evidence of platelet aggregates in whole blood collected into either 0.01 M or 0.005 M citrate and agitated or left stationary at room temperature for 5 h. The use of different citrate concentrations in plateletpheresis is discussed.