Evaluations of Detection Methods of Bacterial Contamination in Platelet Components

Platelet components (PCs) have widespread applications in clinical cases. Since PCs store in room temperature (between 20-24°C), they are susceptible to bacterial contamination. There are varied approaches for identifying bacterial contamination in PCs. These methods categorized into two groups: Firstly, culture based methods and secondly, non-culture based methods. Both of them have a couple of merits and demerits. BacT/ALERT is a culture-based technique, which has been approved by the food and drug administration. Although sensitivity and specificity of this method could be debatable and is not universal. This method is considered as gold standard contemporary method and it is far more dependable and superb in comparison with the contamination detection methods. It is assumed that, application of rapid methods play an important role in detection of bacterial contamination in the future. Accordingly, this study aimed to represent a summary of each method, which was used for bacterial contamination detection in PCs with detailed assessment of culture-based methods, specifically BacT/ALERT.