Assessment of Platelet Indices, Beta-Thromboglobulin and Platelet Factor Iv in Platelet Concentrate at University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria

OBJECTIVES: Platelet concentrate transfusion remain a major therapeutic care for patient with hematological disorders. However, optimal therapeutic effect has been a major challenge. Blood donor characteristics and processing procedure remain major areas of research. Hence, this research assessed the platelet functional parameters, beta-thromboglobulin and Platelets factor IV in donors and platelet concentrate. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was a cross-sectional descriptive study among prospective blood donors for platelet concentrates. Seventy-one prospective blood donors were recruited for this study with mean age of 34.8. Whole blood and aliquot from concentrates were collected for platelet functional parameters using Semi-automated Haematology analyzer, pH using potentiometric method while Beta-thromboglobulin and Platelet factor IV using ELISA-based assays. RESULTS: There was significant increase (P-value ˂0.05) in platelet count, plateletcrit (PCT), β-thromboglobulin (BTG) and platelet large cell concentration (PLCC) in the first 5 hours of harvest and running through 5 days of storage pre-transfusion. Conversely, there was significant decrease in Mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width coefficient of variation (PDW-CV) and Platelets factor IV (PF4). Interestingly, BTG levels exhibited a non-significant increase, rising from 114.40 ± 28.59 at 2 hours to 146.58 ± 32.83 at 5 hours, indicating a slight but steady increase in platelet activation markers as storage time progresses. CONCLUSION: Platelet concentrate is of high quality when transfused within 2 hours of harvest and not more than 5 hours post-harvest in order to optimize the patient outcome. Plateletcrit (PCT), β-thromboglobulin (BTG) and platelet large cell concentration (PLCC), mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width coefficient of variation (PDW-CV) and Platelets factor IV (PF4) remain functional parameters in determining functionality of platelets as established by this study.