What are the benefits of prestorage leucodepletion compared with bedside leucocyte depletion?
Leucocyte depletion may be performed before storage (at the blood collection centre) or after storage (in the hospital laboratory or at the bedside). There is little doubt that the optimum time to remove passenger leucocytes is before storage (called prestorage leucodepletion) for the following reasons: • Better process control and quality assurance Leucocyte filtration is a complicated process that is influenced by factors such as the blood component’s prefiltration cellular composition and plasma content, the temperature of the blood component at the time of filtration, the filtration flow rate, the number of units transfused through the filter, and the timing of the filtration step. Studies have documented a higher incidence of filtration failures when performed at the bedside as compared to leucocyte filtration performed in the laboratory setting. Quality checks and comprehensive quality assurance programs can be more easily performed in the pre-storage setting. Bedside filtration
