Quality Determination of Platelet Concentrates Prepared at the Nairobi Regional Blood Transfusion Centre in Kenya

Abstract

Blood component preparations are preferred to whole blood in transfused majority for instances. The overall benefits from any components is dependent on its quality. The platelet rich plasma-platelet concentrate (PRP-PC) are randomly prepared from platelet rich plasma which are derived from Whole Blood of donors. Platelets concentrates (PC) can be stored for 5 days at 22 ± 2°C with continuous agitation. The quality of these platelet concentrate preparations has not been evaluated at Nairobi Regional Blood Transfusion Centre (NRBTC). Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the quality of Platelet Concentrate preparations at Nairobi Regional Blood Transfusion Centre, using various parameters which included: the platelet count, volume of the platelet concentrate, WBC count, contamination of Red Blood Cells and assessing bacterial contamination (on day 0, 1, day 3 and day 5) post preparation. The study was a cross-sectional study which started from January to April 2017 to assess various quality determinants of platelets prepared at the Nairobi Regional Blood Transfusion Centre. However a total of 91 platelet concentrates were prepared from random donors by platelet rich plasma method (PRP-PC). Only 87 (96%) met the requirement of the platelet count of >5.5 x 1010 the mean and SD for platelet count was 242.5±67.0 × 1010 with a median of 237× 1010. The concentrates that met the specification of Residual White cell count of less than (<0.83) in the platelet concentrate were 76 (84%). The mean 0.51 ±0.49 and median 0.350 whereas 100% (91) of the platelet concentrates in this study fulfilled the standards for volume while 11 (12.0%) post platelet concentrates preparations had bacterial contamination respectively. All the platelet concentrates prepared at Nairobi Regional Blood Transfusion Centre were issued within three days of processing the blood bag and can store platelets up to 5 days. Only 86(95%) of the concentrates did not have red cell contamination, The mean and SD 0.99835±0.21003.The platelets concentrates preparation processes conforms to the standards set by Nairobi Regional Blood Transfusion Center which led to half of platelet concentrates to fulfil the minimum specifications set by Nairobi Regional Blood Transfusion Centre for platelet counts. However the criteria for volume was met. Hence there is need to strengthen the quality for the preparations of platelet concentrates at Nairobi Regional Blood Transfusion Centre. Therefore it is recommended that all platelet concentrates preparedd at Nairobi Regional Blood Transfusion Centre must be subjected to platelet count an culture before dispatch and only those concentrates that meet the criteria should be issued.