Survival in vivo of platelets stored for 48 hours in the buffycoat at 4°C compared to platelet rich plasma stored at 22°C

Summary High speed centrifugation allows separation of whole blood into cell free plasma, a buffy coat and leukocyte poor red cells. The buffy coat can be used for the preparation of platelet concentrates. High lactate production at 22°C requires storage of the buffy coat at 4°C. Survival in vivo of platelet concentrates prepared from buffy coats stored at 4°C for 48 h (BC-PC) was compared with the survival in vivo of platelet concentrates from platelet rich plasma stored at 22°C for 48 h (PRP-PC). Both methods were studied in the same healthy volunteers (n=8) using⁵¹Cr labeled autologous platelets. The mean ±SD recovery 15 min after reinfusion of the BC-PC was 30.5%±13.3% and for PRP-PC 41.4%±7.9% (p<0.0001). The survival in vivo for BC-PC was 2.4 days ±0.4 days and for PRP-PC 7.0 days ±1.4 days (p<0.0001).Since the survival in vivo is significantly less for platelets derived from the buffy coat stored at 4°C, we advocate storage of platelets at 22°C.