Publications by authors named "Peter A Tomasulo"
Background: In spite of interventions, approximately 1000 per 1,000,000 platelet (PLT) collections are contaminated with bacteria at collection. The current prestorage culture procedure at some blood centers is to inoculate a fixed volume from the collection bag (4-8 mL) regardless of collection volume. The sensitivity of early testing varies with the percent of collection volume sampled.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Throughout its system of regional centers, Blood Systems implemented culture based bacterial testing with a standardized protocol for both apheresis and whole blood-derived platelets (PLTs).
Study Design And Methods: After a 24-hour hold, 4 mL of PLT product was inoculated into an aerobic bottle (BacT/ALERT, bioMérieux). Cultures were incubated for 24 hours before routine product release to prevent distribution of infected products while minimizing consignee notification, product retrievals, and hospital PLT inventory problems.
Background: Surveys have shown donor dissatisfaction with the duration of the donation process and repetitive questioning. An abbreviated donor history questionnaire (AQ) may improve satisfaction, but must be safe.
Study Design And Methods: An FDA-approved 34-question AQ was implemented in 2003.
Background: Concern about West Nile virus (WNV) transfusion-transmitted infections missed by minipool (MP) nucleic acid testing (NAT) has prompted consideration of the use of individual-donation (ID) NAT. Strategies were investigated for the application of limited ID-NAT capacity in 2004.
Study Design And Methods: Patterns of WNV MP-NAT-reactive donations tested by the Blood Systems Laboratory each week for 79 blood centers from June 29 to November 23, 2003 (196 MP-NAT repeat-reactive [RR] donations among 801,697 units), were analyzed.