Storage of platelet concentrates in platelet additive solution (PAS) with plasma removal has many advantages, including reduction of allergic reactions, contributing to the available plasma pool for fractionation or transfusion, and employment of pathogen reduction technology. In order to decrease platelet activation for improvement of in vivo viability, PAS should be designed for optimization of aerobic metabolism using compounds such as glucose, acetate, citrate, phosphate, and electrolytes. After a thorough discussion, particularly on the efficacy and regulations, use of the buffy coat method as well as application of a new generation of PAS may likely be the future direction of platelet storage in Korea.
Blood Platelets* ; Citric Acid ; Electrolytes ; Employment ; Glucose ; Hypersensitivity ; Korea ; Metabolism ; Plasma ; Platelet Activation ; Social Control, Formal

HBV core antibody and surface antibody test are currently conducted for those donors showing non-discriminated reactive (NDR) results on a nucleic acid amplification test (NAT) as a blood donor screening assay. It is necessary to investigate the relationship with HCV or HIV in the donors showing NDR results. From June 12th, 2012 to December 31st, 2018, 0.05% (9,020/17,798,461) donors showed NDR results on a NAT. Among the donors showing NDR results, 17 and 18 donors showed positive results on serological assay of HCV and HIV, respectively. 23 donors with NDR results showed positive results on the serological assay or NAT for HCV or HIV on the following donation. Further study and more accumulated data are required because it may be difficult to find the cause of NDR results by the current serological assay that is used for screening blood donors.
Blood Donors ; HIV ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques ; Tissue Donors

BACKGROUND: Ever since the Korean Red Cross adopted HCV NAT for blood donor screening in 2005, HCV NAT reactive donors have been identified every year. The identification of the clinical features for these HCV NAT reactive donors may be helpful for the treatment and prevention of HCV infection. METHODS: We analyzed HCV NAT reactive samples to examine the distribution of HCV RNA genotypes and the quantitative values of 128 and 47 HCV NAT reactive samples in 2007 and 2017, respectively. RESULTS: The dominant genotype of the HCV NAT reactive donors was 1b showing 50.0% (64/128) in 2007 and 44.7% (21/47) in 2017. The genotype 2a was the second most dominant at 40.6% (52/128) in 2007 and 40.4% (19/47) in 2017. The mean titers of HCV RNA were 3.17×106 IU/mL in 2007 and 2.61×106 IU/mL in 2017. More than 90% of the donors showed a range of more than 1,000 IU/mL for the HCV RNA titer. There was no difference of quantitative values in the different genotypes. CONCLUSION In this study, the distribution of HCV RNA genotypes in Korean blood donors showed a similar pattern compared to that of the general population. There was no correlation between the quantitative values and genotypes in the HCV NAT reactive blood donors, and there was no significant variation in the distribution of HCV RNA genotypes of the HCV NAT reactive donors between 2007 and 2017. Yet it is thought that the characteristics of HCV NAT reactive samples in other years have to be analyzed to achieve more significant results.