LABORATORY EVALUATION OF BEDSIDE LEUKOCYTE REMOVAL FILTER PERFORMANCE AND INFLUENCE ON PLASMA pH

Abstract

We evaluated the performance of four leukocyte removal filters under conditions simulating their use in bedside drip infusion of red cell concentrate (RCC; Sepacell RS-200A and Pall RC50) and platelet concentrate (PC; Sepacell PLS-10A and Pall PL100), and investigated their effects on the concentrates. The residual number of WBCs following filtration of ten RCC samples each containing ca. 2×10⁹ WBCs was 3.62±5.10×10⁵ with the RS-200A and 155.96±353.66×10⁵ with the RC50, as compared with the American Association of Blood Banks standard of <5×10⁶. The WBC removal rate (-log) was significantly higher with the RS-200A (4.2±0.6 vs. 2.7±0.6 with the RC50; p<0.001). Average F-Hb (free hemoglobin, mg/dl) increased by 21.9±21.8 (p<0.05) with the RS-200A and by 25.4±24.3 (p<0.01) with the RC50. In contrast, pH values were not significantly affected by either filter. Residual WBCs following filtration of six PC samples each containing ca. 7×10⁷ WBCs with the PLS-10A and PL100 (0.30±0.22×10⁵ and 0.84±0.48×10⁵, respectively) all satisfied the Council of Europe standard of <1×10⁶. pH was lowered by 0.068±0.011 with the PL100, but by significantly less (0.014±0.017) with the PLS-10A. Fractional analysis of three PC samples following passage at 5ml/min showed that platelet aggregability is lowered in relation to the decrease in pH of PC after filtration.