Today many healthcare organizations are facing growing pressure to increase their platelet supply due to the ever increasing demand for platelets. In many parts of the USA, apheresis platelets have become the standard of care. However, reliance on apheresis platelets has led to product shortages, especially during periods such as weekends and holidays. Further compounding the problem are continuing restrictions on donor acceptance criteria such as the recent AABB Bulletin* on TRALI, making it even more difficult to maintain the blood supply.

*AABB Bulletin 06-07: AABB issued guidelines restricting use of previously pregnant female donors from donating “high plasma volume” blood products such as apheresis platelets. Whole blood-derived platelets are defined by the most recent AABB bulletin as a “lower plasma volume component” and “the per-unit risk attributed to antibody-mediated TRALI from [this] component appears to be significantly lower.”

With Acrodose Systems, blood collection facilities can now produce a new generation platelet product – An Acrodose Platelet.  This innovative product consists of ABO-matched whole blood-derived platelets that are leukoreduced, pooled, and bacteria tested. Discover how an Acrodose Platelet can make a difference by satisfying your platelet availability needs, providing opportunities for growth, and improving your bottom line.

Significantly increases platelet availability: An Acrodose Platelet enables blood centers to tap into the abundant, but often discarded resource of whole blood platelets while providing the equivalent clinical benefits of an apheresis platelet.

Provides blood center growth opportunities: Because of their abundant supply and low cost, the production of a therapeutic dose of whole blood-derived platelets can eliminate the reliance on platelet importing due to product shortages, and serve as an effective counter-measure to the donor restrictions outlined in AABB Bulletin 06-07.

Blood centers go from importers to exporters:  Blood centers that are able to adequately satisfy their local platelet requirements may find that upon adopting the Acrodose PL System, they are able to export their excess platelets, providing an untapped growth opportunity for the blood center.

Improves hospital inventory management: Acrodose Platelets may be stored until outdate, allowing return back to inventory if not transfused.

Lowers hospital handling costs: An Acrodose Platelet is received at the hospital pre-pooled and tested via an FDA market-cleared device for bacteria detection. Hospitals no longer have to test whole blood platelets with less sensitive methods such as dipsticks and pH meters which have a higher probability of false negatives (increasing liability exposure) and false positives (increasing cost).

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Clinically Equivalent* to a Single Donor Platelet

An Acrodose Platelet breaks down the barriers of traditional thinking that differentiate whole blood platelets from apheresis platelets. Now, blood collection facilities can capitalize on the clinical benefits of single donor platelets with the availability of whole blood platelets to meet increasing platelet transfusion requirements. An Acrodose Platelet provides the highest levels of safety with no clinical sacrifice in these critical areas:

Platelet quality: In vitro and in vivo studies suggest that pooled, stored, ABO-matched platelets are comparable in quality to single donor platelets.

Platelet dosing: Acrodose Platelets can easily be targeted to consistently meet single donor platelet counts (at least 3.0x1011 platelets in a dose).

Bacteria detection: Acrodose Platelets utilize the same culture-based bacteria detection systems as are used to test single donor platelets.

Donor exposure: Although the concern over donor exposure to viruses during pre-storage pooling is real, the advent of nucleic acid testing (NAT) has significantly reduced this risk.

*Equivalent therapeutic dose in terms of platelet count and quality.

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A Viable Alternative to 7-day Platelets

Shortages in platelet supply have led blood collection facilities to consider use of extended storage platelets (i.e., 7-day storage). While this option may appear to be a solution for improving platelet availability, it can also lead to increased testing costs associated with increased bacteria testing and handling, and lower platelet quality, thereby reducing transfusion intervals and increasing overall demand and cost for platelets.

An Acrodose Platelet will increase platelet availability and provide patients with a fresher, more clinically efficacious product. Because an Acrodose Platelet is a 5-day platelet product, it does not require extra bacteria testing and will consistently be fresher than a 7-day platelet.

Get more details on Acrodose Platelets as an alternative to 7-day platelets.

A Lower Cost Option to Single Donor Platelets

An AcrodoseSM Platelet provides several cost advantages over a single donor platelet. Consider the following:

• An Acrodose Platelet is a pool of whole blood platelets that requires lower recruitment, processing, and equipment costs compared to single donor platelets.
• The Acrodose™ PL System makes use of the abundant supply of whole blood platelets, much more readily available than single donor platelets. As a result, blood centers can expect fewer product shortages and less need to import.
• Because an Acrodose Platelet is received “transfusionready,” there is no need for pooling and bacteria testing at the hospital. This results in reduced handling costs.

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An Advancement for Greater Patient Safety

Pall’s Acrodose PL System offers a new alternative for testing whole blood platelets, utilizing an FDA-approved bacteria detection system for testing the pool of platelets. This improves patient safety by assuring the highest sensitivity and specificity available today. The result is an Acrodose Platelet that is tested in the same manner and using the same methods as single donor platelets, eliminating the two-tiered level of safety that currently exists between single donor and whole blood derived platelets.

Acrodose Systems with Integrated eBDS: Employs Pall eBDS technology, a novel detection method that measures the oxygen content of air within the sample pouch as a surrogate marker for bacteria.

Acrodose Systems: Can be used with any U.S. FDA market-cleared bacteria detection method.

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Directly tied to the benefit of greater platelet availability is the opportunity for lower costs, increased revenues and greater margins.  Both blood centers and hospitals can expect to benefit financially from an Acrodose Platelet. Learn how. 

• For the blood center:  Compare costs, revenues, and margins for manufacturing and selling an Acrodose Platelet vs. an apheresis platelet.  The blood center cost model also provides an estimate of lost product and revenues due to the loss of female donors as a result of the AABB Bulletin on TRALI, and how Acrodose may be able to offset some or all of that lost product and revenue.
  
  
• For the hospital:  The Acrodose Cost Calculator for the hospital looks at the costs associated with platelet filtration and pooling, as well as lost product (due to the 4-hour expiration for traditionally pooled platelets), and provides potential cost savings that may result by switching to an Acrodose Platelet.
  

Three studies examining 5- vs. 7-day platelets are available. All suggest, by their surrogates, that platelets stored for 5 days are more efficacious than those stored for 7 days.

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In an effort to meet platelet transfusion requirements, platelets pooled prior to storage (referred to as pool and store [P&S] platelets) may prove to be an acceptable alternative when apheresis product is not available. In order to make an informed decision regarding the comparability of buffy coat (BC) or whole blood-derived (WB-d) P&S platelets with apheresis product, these four questions are presented and discussed:

1. Can the quality of apheresis or single donor platelets (SDP) be considered comparable to WB-d or BC platelets that are pooled prior to storage?
2. Can platelet products be pooled to consistently provide platelet counts that are comparable to those found in an SDP product?
3. Is donor exposure, to mediators of morbidity inherent in any one donor, increased by pooling to the point where it causes significant concern?
4. Can quality bacteria detection be applied to ensure the safety of the platelet product?

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Using a platform of complementary products, blood collection facilities are able to produce a therapeutic dose of platelets that are pooled, leukoreduced, ABO matched, and bacteria tested with culture based detection methods – in other words, an Acrodose Platelet. Read more about:

• Collecting and Processing: Leukotrap® RC PL and Leukotrap PL Systems 
• Pooling and Storing: Acrodose™ PL System
• Bacteria Detection and Management: Pall eBDS and Pall Data

For the full story, go to A New Platform for Platelet Transfusion Safety.