Adverse events associated with apheresis procedures: Incidence and relative frequency

INTRODUCTION: Apheresis procedures [Plateletpheresis, Plasmapheresis/ Therapeutic Plasma Exchange (TPE), & Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Collection (PBSC)] are usually well tolerated. Occasionally, Adverse Events (AEs) of variable severity may occur during or after the procedure. AEs that occur in Donors/Patients are divided into local reactions and systemic reactions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 3,367 apheresis procedures were performed, out of which 3,120 were plateletpheresis procedures, and out of which 1,401 were on Baxter CS 3000 & 1,719 were on Haemonetics MCS+ cell separators. Rest of 247 TPE & PBSC procedures were done on Haemonetics MCS+ cell separators. RESULTS: 90 AEs were reported in relation to the 3,367 procedures. Out of 90 AEs, 85 AEs (94%) were associated with plateletpheresis (n = 3,120) and 05 AEs (06%) with TPE & PBSC (n = 247). The rate of vascular injury (VI), Citrate reaction (CR), and Presyncopal/Syncopal (PS/S) in plateletpheresis was 1.6% (52/3,120), 0.96% (30/3,120), and 0.096% (03/3,120), respectively. The rate of CR in TPE and PBSC was 1.23% (02/162) and 2.3% (02/85), respectively. The rate of PS/S in PBSC was 1.17% (01/85). AEs for Plateletpheresis, TPE & PBSC were 2.7% (85/3,120), 1.23% (02/162), and 3.5% (03/85), respectively. VI, CR, and PS/S were mostly of mild intensity. Both cell separators were equally safe, when AEs associated with plateletpheresis were compared with each other; 2.8% on CS 3000 & 2.6% on MCS+. CONCLUSION: Apheresis procedures performed on cell separators are safe, with a low incidence of significant AEs. No significant difference was noted in AEs among the two cell separators studied.