Isohemagglutinin titration in pooled and apheresis platelets

Background: Platelet inventory constraints necessitate ABO-incompatible platelet transfusion. Many minimize the hemolytic impact by confirming low titre (LT) donor isohemagglutinins. This process is costly. Pathogen-reduced platelets (PRP) in platelet additive solutions (PAS) will dilute plasma and decrease high-titre isohemagglutinins (HT). We determined the proportion of HT platelets and incompatible transfusions for units suspended in plasma to reassess the need for titres following introduction of PRP/PAS.

Study design and methods: Our titre method is manual tube (1:50) dilution of platelet supernatant from apheresis or whole blood derived buffy coat pools suspended in plasma, tested with A1/B red cells. Testing included 49,058 pooled and 11,738 apheresis platelets over 4 years. The HT proportion, rate of out-of-group transfusions, and hemolytic reactions were determined. The impact of PAS dilution was estimated.

Results: Totally 60,796 platelet units were tested. Group O pooled and group B apheresis platelets had HT in 6.6% and 5.7%, respectively. Group A pooled and apheresis platelets included 2% with HT. Approximately 25% of platelets transfused were ABO-incompatible and no hemolytic reactions were reported. Based on the proportions of PAS-E and plasma for PRP platelets, plasma from each donor comprises 11 mL (6% of total volume) vs 20-257 mL in untreated pools. PAS-E will replace and dilute residual plasma by at least 50%.

Discussion: Rare platelet pools may demonstrate HT. PRP platelets with PAS will reduce titres and may abrogate the need for titration. A strategy of group specific transfusion or transfusion of group A PRP platelet transfusions may be a safe alternative.