Processes and Software Building 46: Reconstituted Whole Blood

Exchange transfusions using reconstituted whole blood were much more common in the past.  Much of the time IVIG now takes care of hemolytic disease of the fetus/newborn HDFN.

In Medinfo, we took a fresh (<= 14 day old) packed RBC in SAGM, group O, Rh-compatible and mixed it with a unit of group AB plasma—the desired hematocrit could be achieved by adjusting the amount thawed plasma that we added.  The product could then be aliquoted and irradiated.  Note that I medically chose to use either FP24 or FFP.

Here is the Medinfo process:

19/9/20

Processes and Software Building 45: Modifying RBC Components

Components may be modified either in the Blood Donor Center or in the hospital blood bank.  In either case, they use the PRODUCTION section of Medinfo to perform these operations.

These operations may include:

  • Irradiation
  • Tight-packing (removal of the supernatant, especially for intrauterine or neonatal transfusions)
  • Washing
  • Aliquoting (division of the primary RBC bag and possibly further division of one of the secondary bags)
  • Final labelling of the modified component

The weight of the component is converted to the volume by the software.

The end-user can specify which modified components were available.  As with any ISBT-labelled products, any changes will trigger a new ISBT E code and label.

16/9/20

Policy: ABO-Incompatible Plasma for Infants

Principle:

HMC Blood Donor Center used platelets (buffy coat pools) and/or apheresis-derived suspended in PAS (platelet additive solution).  In each platelet pool or apheresis platelet, less than 35 ml (average < 20%) of the original plasma. This was much less than would remain if volume-reduced platelets had been prepared by centrifugation. Furthermore, the platelets would NOT be traumatized by the centrifugation.

Policy:

  1. For neonates (< 4 months old) and infants (<20 kg), we will give preference to use plasma-compatible platelet and plasma type.
  2. In any case, PAS-suspended platelets will be used with little residual plasma (far less than if we had centrifuged them).
  3. In the rare event that plasma-compatible platelet types are not available, the transfusion medicine physician must approve the release.

References:

  1. Standards for Blood Banks and Transfusion Services, Current Edition, AABB, Bethesda, MD, USA
  2. Guide to the Preparation, Use, and Quality Assurance of Blood Components, European Committee (Partial Agreement) on Blood Transfusion, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France

Processes and Software Building 44: Pooling Components

Medinfo Hematos IIG has a pooling operation that can be used for pooling platelets, plasma, cryoprecipitate, etc.  It is a one-step operation.  In the set-up, one specifies the maximum number of components to pool together for each component type.  In general, they are of the same ABO type;  however, at HMC Doha I did allow mixed ABO platelet pools to avoid wastage of platelets that would otherwise be discarded—this may not be allowed in all jurisdictions.

The following examples show pooling of FFP, FP24, cryoprecipitate, and cryo-poor plasma:

13/9/20

Processes and Software Building 43: Manual Whole Blood Processing

This was the HMC methodology for manual whole blood processing to prepare packed RBCs, plasma, cryoprecipitate, and cryo-poor plasma using blood bank centrifuges (not Reveos).  It did not include preparing platelets since we did not have manual buffy coat processing equipment.  In this algorithm we did not specifically release whole blood as a final product (although we did have the capability of activating this in emergency situations).

10/9/20

Processes and Software Building 42: Platelet Pooling

Outside the USA, platelet pools stored at room temperature may be valid for up to 7 days, especially if pathogen-inactivation is used.  The following workflow shows both Mirasol pathogen-inactivated and standard platelets.  The standard platelets are then irradiated.  Both types can be aliquoted.

A major advantage in using a specific blood bank computer software is to enforce the Good Manufacturing Process.  Medinfo is merciless:  there are no exceptions without authorization and that is restricted by the security policies.

In the recent Reveos post, the upper and lower platelet volume specifications were discussed.  The platelets are weighed and the volume is calculated.  If a manual or another method for preparing platelets is used, then the according values can be specified.

To Be Continued:  8/9/20

Review of Product Inserts

This is a policy I made for NGHA Jeddah many years ago but is still useful today.

Principle:

All technical staff are required to read and understand the manufacturer package inserts that apply to the procedures that they perform.  This policy establishes a means of documenting compliance with this requirement.

Policy Details:

  1. Technical staff are defined as anyone who uses the reagent in the performance of a procedure or process or anyone reviews or supervises that process or procedure.  This includes the supervisor, medical technologists, medical technicians, nurses, phlebotomists, and assistants.
  2. All technical staff are required to read and understand ALL product inserts for each procedure applicable to the section(s) that they work in—apheresis, donor room, component preparation, and/or transfusion service.
  3. If they have any questions about a particular insert, they should refer it to the supervisor, senior technologist (Med Tech 1), or in the latter’s absence, the blood bank medical director/section head.
  4. Each staff member must sign the Manufacturer’s Package Insert Review Form for that particular policy/procedure, including his signature, employee identification number, and date.
  5. Each Manufacturer’s Package Insert Review Form will be retained with a copy of the package insert by the Blood Bank Supervisor in a special file while the material is being used and for at least five (5) years after a new or revised manufacturer package insert is applicable.
  6. A new Manufacturer’s Package Insert Review Form should be used for each revision of the insert.

Insert Review Form

Type of Insert:  New  Revised
Product Name:
Date of Insert:

I have read this insert and understand its contents and accept responsibility for following its instructions and directions.

Staff Name & Badge #–PRINT!SignatureDate
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Sample Resident Examination for Donor Center

Reading Assignments:

  • Chapters 5-9:  Blood Donation and Collection in Technical Manual, 16th Edition
  • Standards for Blood Banks and Transfusion Services, AABB, 25th Edition

Study Questions:

  1. Which of the following candidates is acceptable for donation?
    1. Saudi, visited Sudan 11 months ago as part of National Guard exchange
    2. Saudi former student lived in UK for 2 years from 1993-95
    3. Normotensive taking amlodipine and valsartan
    4. Psoriatic using Tegison
    5. Male adult using ibuprofen for lower back pain
    6. Female 4 weeks post-partum
    7. Husband of patient with recent onset of hepatitis B infection
    8. Male stopped taking ampicillin one week ago for acute pharyngitis
    9. Donor with WBC count 12000/cmm but otherwise normal
  2. Which of the following donors is suitable for autologous donation?
    1. Cataract surgery patient
    2. Well, but had gastroenteritis 3 days ago
    3. Pregnant with Hgb 11 g/dl
    4. CGL patient with Hgb 13 g/dl
    5. Hodgkin’s disease patient Hgb 12 for exploratory laparotomy
    6. Patient with rare antibody anti-Tja, Hgb 13 for cholecystecomy
  3. How do you handle the following events?
    1. Donor draw fills bag with bright red blood in 30 seconds
    2. Donor faints when needle is shown
    3. Lipemic serum during donor plateletpheresis session
    4. Donor with numbness and tingling of extremities during donor apheresis session
  4. How would you handle the following therapeutic phlebotomy requests?
    1. Hgb 22 g/dl, suspected polycythemia rubra vera
    2. Hgb 13, suspected hemochromatosis patient
    3. Hgb 16, renal failure patient post-erythropoietin treatment
    4. Unstable angina, Hgb 9
  5. What is the final volume of each of the following blood components?
    1. Whole blood
    2. Packed RBCs—state hematocrit as well
    3. Washed RBCs
    4. Irradiated packed cells
    5. Platelet pool—state number of platelets
    6. FFP
    7. Cryo-poor plasma
    8. Cryoprecipitate
  6. What are the outdates of each of the following components?
    1. Packed RBCs
    2. Platelet pool
    3. FFP frozen at -35C
    4. Granulocyte concentrate
  7. Which donor units are acceptable for transfusion?
    1. HBsAg negative, HBcAb positive, HBsAb > 20 IU/liter
    2. HCV Ab positive, RIBA-3 negative, HCV-RNA negative
    3. Syphilis positive, FTA-ABS negative

Revised:

29/8/20

Processes and Software Building 40: Reveos Detailed Settings

A major advantage in using a specific blood bank computer software is to enforce the Good Manufacturing Processes.  Medinfo is merciless:  there are no exceptions without authorization and that is restricted by the security policies.

The following tables show the values established at HMC Doha during my tenure.  These values were recommended by the Terumo BCT Reveos engineer after his direct, hands-on set-up of the equipment.

The minimum and maximum volumes for platelets are specifically designed to work for pooling the buffy coats before Mirasol pathogen inactivation.  There are different settings for platelets suspended in plasma versus those suspended in platelet additive solution PAS.

Similarly, there are specific volume ranges for plasma so that pathogen inactivation can be performed according to Terumo BCT recommendations.

To Be Continued:  4/9/20

Processing and Software Building 39: Atreus and Reveos

Automated component processing is an almost hands-free separation of into packed RBCs (ready for leukodepletion), buffy coat platelets (ready for pooling), leukodepleted plasma, and a residual buffy coat.  The older Atreus device takes about 10 minutes for one whole blood unit whereas the newer Reveos device needs slightly more than 20 minutes to process four whole blood units.  At the end of processing:

  1. RBCs are ready for leukodepletion using the integral filter provided with the kit.
  2. Plasma is ready for pathogen-inactivation and freezing.
  3. Buffy coat platelets are ready for pooling using the Platelet Yield Index PYI.
    1. Further processing (filtration and Mirasol treatment) occurs if the donor marker testing results pass
  4. Residual buffy coat is not a clinical product but may be used for quality control for stem cell processing and/or cell line expansion

The process in Medinfo is as follows:

  1. Receive the whole blood units for processing by reading the ISBT specimen barcode.
  2. Collection data (volume, time to complete collection, time of collection, etc.) is transferred to the component processor.
  3. Select the processing machine:  Atreus vs. Reveos
  4. Select the protocol:  2C (RBCs and plasma) versus 3C (RBCs, platelets, and plasma)
  5. Further processing as per the flow diagrams.

At HMC Doha, Medinfo developed the first bidirectional interfaces to both Reveos and Atreus.

To Be Continued

2/9/20