Abstract
Two types of polyester filters were evaluated in vitro for their effectiveness in removing leukocytes from red cell-MAP stored for 5 and 10 days. Filtration using a new Pall RC400 filter reduced in the number of leukocytes to 4×104cells/bag or less regardless of the number of days the blood was stored, or the filtration rate. On the other hand, the number of leukocytes remaining after intravenous drip filtration (6ml/min) using the Sepacell RC500A II filter was 920.6 (405.4-1929.2)×104cells/bag after 5 days of storage, and 75.8 (15.7-262.1)×104cells/bag after 10 days of storage. However, when the clamp was opened and filtration was performed while allowing a higher flow rate by gravity, the number of residual leukocytes was reduced to 30×104cells/bag regardless of the number of days the blood was stored. The ranges of red cell recovery rate and number of residual platelets were 87-94% and 0.3-0.9×109cells/bag, respectively, for the Pall RC400 filter, and 92-95% and 0.7-1.2×109cells/bag, respectively, for the Sepacell RC500AII filter. Therefore, the new Pall RC400 filter was effective for removing leukocytes from red cell-MAP.
