CORRELATION OF DONOR CHARACTERISTICS AND APHAERETIC PLATELET YIELD USING THE TRIMA ACCEL MACHINE AT THE AGA KHAN UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, NAIROBI, KENYA

Abstract

Background: One of the devices dedicated to the collection of leukoreduced single-donor platelets is the Trima Accel cell separator. Improved efficiency of apheresis and increased flexibility in the collection of leukoreduced platelets has been enhanced by the new Universal Platelet protocol. The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between donor characteristics and apheresis platelet yield using the Trima Accel machine at the Aga Khan University Hospital.

Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study carried out at the blood transfusion department of the Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi. The study population comprised all persons who came to voluntarily donate platelets and gave informed consent at the hospital and comprised of 120 donors. The first phase was to determine the donors' gender, hemoglobin count, platelet count, weight, and height. Upon qualification, the donors donated platelets through the Trima Accel machine. The platelet count of the donated platelets was determined using the Sysmex XN-1000 then the yield was calculated. 

Results: The mean platelet yield was 4.07 ×10¹¹. The platelet yield correlated with donor pre-platelet count (r=0.413), but did not correlate with age (r=0.096), height (r=0.024), weight (r=0.068), gender (0.096), hematocrit (0.134) and hemoglobin (r=0.134).

Discussion: Variables such as age, height, weight hemoglobin, and hematocrit showed no correlation with the yield while pre-donation platelet count correlated with the yield.