One cannot discount the importance of platelet concentrates as a treatment for many bleeding disorders. Many patients with platelet dysfunctions rely on platelet transfusions. A case in point, platelet concentrates are a lifesaving measure in patients with Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever.

Platelet concentrates are ideally transfused as soon as they are collected but can be stored for up to 5 days when kept on a rotator at 20-24 degrees Celsius. It is important that platelets be kept in continuous gentle rotation to keep them suspended in plasma and prevent aggregation.

Issues with transporting and storing platelets may be a stumbling block in areas where a pheresis machine is not readily available. Platelet concentrates are expensive to obtain and its use should be optimized. One way to make sure that the platelet concentrates are still potent is through testing and monitoring its adhesion and aggregation capabilities. Studies have been done using the IMPACT-R machine as a monitoring tool. An abstract of one such study can be found here.

Tags: Impact-R, pheresis, platelet concentrate, platelet rotator, platelet transfusion

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 14th, 2011 at 3:58 pm and is filed under Usage of Impact R. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.