Leukocyte Reduction Fact Sheet

In my post about my coming trip to the Maldives, I mentioned that they have a problem with the high cost of leukocyte filters there. It is very important that leukocytes be filtered out of the blood before transfusions to reduce the amount of reactions to the blood. When you can't afford them you don't use them and your transfusion is not as safe as it should be.

For those interested in knowing more about leukocyte reduction, I have reprinted this article from the Red Cross site at Leukocyte Fact Sheet

Leukocyte Reduction Fact Sheet

What are leukocytes?
Leukocytes are white blood cells, one of the types of cells in human blood. The body produces leukocytes to help fight off foreign substances in the body such as bacteria, viruses and abnormal cells in an effort to avoid sickness or disease. However, when leukocytes are transfused into another person, with red blood cells, platelets or plasma, they are not well tolerated and have been associated with some types of transfusion reactions.

What is leukocyte reduction?
Leukoreduction is the removal of contaminating white blood cells from blood products. The most common method of leukocyte reduction is filtration. In this process, blood is passed through a filter that separates leukocytes from other blood components, based on their size and stickiness.

There are three types of filtration that may occur:

    * Prestorage leukocyte reduction:
          o In this preferred process, filtration occurs at the blood center soon after the blood is collected and is performed using standardized, quality controlled processing methods designed to produce a consistent level of leukocyte reduction.
    * In-lab post-storage leukocyte reduction:
          o Filtration occurs after the blood has been delivered to the hospital.
    * Bedside leukocyte reduction:
          o Filtration occurs at the patient's bedside as the transfusion is being given.

What are the benefits of leukocyte reduction?
Leukocytes contained in whole blood can act as a contaminant when transfused into a recipient, causing reactions that range from mild to potentially harmful. Leukocytes in transfused blood have also been associated with more serious problems, such as transmission of certain viruses, including cytomegalovirus (CMV), a common virus affecting more than half of all North Americans, and human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV-I/II) which may cause blood or neurological diseases. Leukocytes have been known to cause the formation of antibodies that make future transfusions less likely to be effective and more likely to cause an adverse reaction.

By removing leukocytes from whole blood, the incidence rates for febrile (fever) transfusion reactions are significantly reduced for patients susceptible to this reaction, and may result in improved patient outcomes, shorter hospital stays and reduced health care costs.

 

Hey Andy,

Can you tell something more about "Prestorage leukocyte reduction"
Do you know how it is done??

Prestorage leukocyte reduction is done in the lab after blood has been collected using in-line filters such as this one seen at

LeukoGuard Filter

And from the Red Cross site at

Leukocyte Reduced Blood products

Studies show that blood products that have undergone prestorage leukocyte reduction are more effective at preventing leukocyte-related transfusion reactions than blood products that have undergone poststorage filtration either at the bedside or in the laboratory. For this reason, Red Cross is transitioning its cellular blood products toward eventual conversion to universal prestorage leukocyte reduction.

It costs more but the realization that it is actually cost-effective in the long run due to fewer blood reactions, is changing the system towards prestorage filtration.

How many of Thal's are using the Leukocyte Filters?

How much does in cost in different part of the world? Could those using it share some knowledge on this?

-Narendra

How many of Thal's are using the Leukocyte Filters?

How much does in cost in different part of the world? Could those using it share some knowledge on this?

-Narendra

Hi Narendre,

We in Malaysia are using the filter for quite some time now. It is free mostly for Peadtric care. For adults patients, sometimes the hospital privide it but some don't.

The price can fetch up to 70 Malaysian Ringgit depends on the type. There are a lot to choose from. The lowest can be for the single blood bag use and there are also for the thee blood bag usage.

because of the cost, i usually don't use them which i am greatly dissapointed. I would also like to know if there is other cheaper filterations available and where to buy them.



Regards,
Nur

what i wanted to know was does this leukocyte removal blood sets remove platelets from the blood?
here the blood set costs around 1500 rupees i.e 32.6 U.S dollars but we get them at discounted rate from our thalassemia society at 480 rupees i.e 10.43 U.S dollars.

Leukocyte filters remove the white blood cells with only a minimal reduction in the other blood components. They are highly recommended for use with transfusions, as they greatly reduce the risk of infection from the donated blood. Unfortunately, they are quite expensive, although $10 each is quite a good price.

hi,

I am being told by a nurse that by using filter during transfusion, the Iron is being filtered out as well. Well... as far as i am believed this is not true. or am i wrong? 

can anyone help? 



Nur

Leukocytes are white blood cells and have nothing to do with the iron load that is in every transfusion. The iron is in the center of the hemoglobin molecule which is contained in the red blood cells. We wish it could be so simple as to have iron removed by a filter but of course it isn't.

Some of the things we hear about that have been said by medical professionals are very distressing.

Thanks for the explanation Andy. I feel releived to hear that because i thought i had missed out on some facts. to my understanding it does not remove iron in blood. even in the logical thinking it wouldn't make sense.



Nur