title: A Retrospective Analysis of Apheresis Donor Deferral and Adverse Reactions at a Tertiary Care Centre in India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  With increasing demand of platelet component each day, blood bank plays a pivotal role in ensuring supply of safe blood as and when required. Plateletpheresis procedure is a relatively simple, safe and important adjunct to blood bank inventory. However, recruitment of healthy blood donors is a challenge that the health industry is facing today.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the reasons and rates of apheresis donor deferral along with investigation of adverse reactions encountered during the procedure.
  
  
  METHODS
  Records of single donor apheresis were retrospectively analysed from 1stJanuary 2010 to 31stDecember 2014. The study was carried out at Blood Bank, Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi, India. The donor details that were studied included - age, sex, type of donation (voluntary/replacement/ repeat), reason for donor deferral and type of adverse reaction, if encountered during the procedure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the 478 donors screened for plateletpheresis procedure during a study period of 5 years, 134 (28.03%) were deferred. Temporary deferrals accounted for majority (93.28%) of the deferrals. Low platelet count (50.75%) was the main reason of donor deferral followed by low haemoglobin (20.89%). Amongst the 344 selected donors, 15 (4.36%) had some type of adverse reaction associated with the procedure.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We suggest that the selection criteria for plateletpheresis donors should be revised to deal with shortage of apheresis donors. The criteria regarding minimum pre-procedure platelet count (above1.5 lac/μl) and haemoglobin (above 12.5 g/dl) need to be lowered so as to suit the Indian scenario. The lower adverse reaction rates, 14/344 (4.06%) associated with this procedure encourages safety of donors and is important in recruitment of new donors.
authors.affiliation: Ex-Senior Resident, Department of Pathology, Safdarjung Hospital , Delhi, India .
authors.forename: Disha
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Arora
authors.affiliation: Senior Resident, Department of Pathology, Safdarjung Hospital , Delhi, India .
authors.forename: Ketan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Garg
authors.affiliation: Senior Resident, Department of Pathology, Safdarjung Hospital , Delhi, India .
authors.forename: Ankit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kaushik
authors.affiliation: Senior Resident, Department of Pathology, Safdarjung Hospital , Delhi, India .
authors.forename: Richa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Ex-Associate Professor and Head of Blood Bank, Department of Pathology, Safdarjung Hospital , Delhi, India .
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Rawat
authors.affiliation: Professor and Head, Department of Pathology, Safdarjung Hospital , Delhi, India .
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Mandal
keywords: Adverse event; Deferral; Plateletpheresis; Selection criteria