First comparison of productivity and citrate donor load between the Trima® version 4 (dual-stage filler) and the Trima Accel® (single-stage filler) in the same donors

Background and Objectives Aside from new software the blood cell separator TRIMA (GambroBCT) also received a newly designed separation chamber offering a novel single stage separation technology, called Trima Accel. We evaluated this new system focusing on productivity and donor comfort by comparing it to the previous version (Trima version 4) in collecting single‐donor platelet concentrates (SD‐PCs) and plasma. Materials and Methods Each of 20 donors underwent platelet apheresis using both devices. We compared the collection efficiency (CE), the collections rate (CR), the volume of the collected plasma and the residual leukocytes. Furthermore we compared donor comfort in terms of duration of the donation, flow of citrate back to the donor and platelet and whit blood cell (WBC) loss. Results While the number of collected platelets and the platelet concentration did not differ significantly between both techniques the time of the procedure was reduced by 15.6% with Trima Accel. This results in an increase of the CR and CE of 25% and 15% respectively when using Trima Accel. Log normal probability plotting of WBC counts showed that both techniques complied with the European and the US leukoreduction guidelines. The mean flow of ACDA to the donor perminute and per litre blood volume was also reduced by 20%. Conclusion These data show that the Trima Accel represents a further improvement in apheresis platelet production with a better productivity and donor comfort, especially regarding the mean flow of ACDA to the donor.