As quality control of platelet concentrates obtained at the expiration date does not distinguish between the different stages that may cause reductions in quality, such as collection and storage, we decided to separately investigate the influence of collection, processing and storage on the quality of these blood components. This study evaluated 33 random platelet concentrates daily for five days for the following parameters: aggregation, number of platelets and leukocytes, PO2 and PCO2, pH, sodium and potassium, the presence of swirling, platelet clots, red blood cells and lipemia, and bacteria culture. We observed a greater decrease in platelet aggregation with pairs of agonists during the production of platelet concentrates (from 99.4% to 59.8%, p<0.05), followed by a gradual drop during storage reaching 40.4% on day five. During storage the following were also observed: 1. a gradual drop of platelet concentration (p<0.05) although the values always remained higher than 5x1010/70 mL; 2. a decrease in leukocyte concentration (p<0.05); 3. increases in pO2 and decreases in pCO2 (p<0.05); 4. increase in the pH (p<0.05 from day 4) and in concentrations of sodium and potassium (in general p<0.05); 5. swirling in all platelet concentrations, platelet clots in only one and absence of red blood cells and lipemia in all; and 6. negative cultures for bacteria. The results showed more apparent changes in the production process and suggest that the quality control of platelet concentrations should encompass all stages, from collection to the end of the storage period.
Platelet transfusion; platelet aggregation; quality control
