Leukoreduced red cell concentrates: Are they meeting the quality standards?

Background: Leukocytes are responsible for producing both immune and nonimmune adverse reactions, and therefore, various methods have been developed to remove them from the blood components before transfusion.

Aim: The aim of this study was to analyze the quality parameters in leukoreduced red cell concentrates (RCCs) and investigate the efficiency of leukocyte removal and red cell recovery in the leukoreduction methods followed in our center.

Materials And Methods: The study evaluated the quality parameters in 112 RCCs prepared using buffy-coat reduction by the Terumo automatic component extractor II+ system, manual saline washing, and leukofiltration using the Leucolab filter system.

Results: With analysis, leukofiltration was found to be the most efficient in reducing leukocyte content in RCCs, achieving a mean leukoreduction of 99.99%. Buffy-coat reduction and saline washing achieved a leukoreduction of 78.54% and 82.67%, respectively. While filtration showed the least red cell recovery of 81.93% compared to 90.57% in buffy-coat reduction and 91.87% in saline washing methods. An analysis of hemoglobin content showed that none of the buffy-coat removed RCCs processed from 350-ml collections and underwent poststorage leukofiltration could meet the European Standards for minimum hemoglobin content.

Conclusion: Filtration is found to be the better method for leukoreduction of RCCs. It is suggested to perform a single method of leukoreduction preferably leukofiltration for maximum red cell recovery.