Intrapatient comparison of an intermittent and a continuous flow cell separator for the collection of progenitor and stem cells from the blood.
OBJECTIVE
Continuous-flow and intermittent-flow blood cell separators (CFCS and IFCS) are both used to collect stem cells from the blood to rescue patients undergoing myeloablative treatment for cancer.


METHODS
We designed a study to compare the collection efficiency of the two systems. The continuous-flow Cobe Spectra and the intermittent-flow Haemonetics MCS-3P were used to collect cells on consecutive days from 9 patients mobilised with G-CSF with or without chemotherapy. Blood obtained before leukapheresis and the leukapheresis product were analysed for their content of red and white cells, platelets, CD34-positive cells, GM-CFC, CFC-E, and BFU-E. An extraction ratio was calculated.


RESULTS
We found that the CFCS extracted about 4 times more mononuclear cells per unit time, 3 times more CD34-positive, and 4 times more clonogenic cells than the IFCS. The subject acceptability of the two systems was similar.


CONCLUSIONS
The CFCS is a more efficient system for stem cell collection. IFCS requires a longer harvesting time for the same result.
Servizio Oncologico Cantonale, Bellinzona, Svizzera.
F
F
Beretta
S
S
van den Bosch
D
D
Castelli
F
F
Cavalli
M
M
Ghielmini
D000328:Adult; D001772:Blood Cell Count; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D007937:Leukapheresis / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013997:Time Factors