Manufacture of pooled platelets in additive solution and storage in an ELX container after an overnight warm temperature hold of platelet-rich plasma.

The processing of whole blood-derived platelet-rich plasma (PRP) to a platelet concentrate and platelet-poor plasma is currently performed within 8 hours to comply with the requirements to manufacture fresh frozen plasma. Maintaining PRP at room temperature for a longer period can have the advantage of shifting the completion of component manufacture onto day shifts. Pairs of ABO-identical prepooled platelets were manufactured by the PRP method, using the current approach with platelet storage in a CLX HP container (Pall Medical, Covina, CA) and plasma, or a novel approach with an 18- to a 24-hour room temperature hold of the PRP and the manufacture of pooled platelets in a glucose-containing additive solution (AS) and storage in a new ELX container (Pall Medical). Standard in vitro assays were performed on days 2, 5, and 7. The results showed that the AS platelets in ELX have in vitro characteristics that are equivalent or superior to those of the standard product.