Comparison of efficacy of low and high dose prophylactic platelet transfusion therapy in thrombocytopenic haemato-oncology patients.

INTRODUCTION: To determine an optimal platelet dose in thrombocytopenic patients is important for their judicious use. Transfusing platelets in different doses and comparing their post transfusion response can achieve this. AIM: To compare the efficacy of low and high dose single donor apheresis platelets (SDAP) with standard dose transfusions in terms of Corrected Count Increment (CCI), Percent Platelet Recovery (PPR) and transfusion free interval. METHOD: It was a prospective case control study done from January 2016 to April 2017. Twenty-eight hemato-oncology patients with CCI ≥5000 at 20-24 hours after standard dose (3 × 1011/unit), received low dose (1.5 × 1011 platelets/unit) and high dose (>4 × 1011 platelets/unit) SDAP. CCI and PPR were calculated after 20 to 24 hours of transfusion. Transfusion free interval and bleeding episodes were also noted. Grading was done according to WHO bleeding scale. RESULT: There was no statistical difference in CCI and PPR when standard dose was compared with low dose (CCI: p = 0.92, PPR: p = 0.89). When standard and high dose was compared, standard dose gave better results than the high dose in terms of CCI (p = 0.006) and PPR (p = 0.008) although the post transfusion increments were comparable (p = 0.938). High dose gave better (p = 0.005) platelet count increments than low dose but CCI (p = 0.04) and PPR (p = 0.05) was significantly less than the low dose. The difference in transfusion free intervals after three doses was not significant. Donor exposure to the patients was significantly (p = 0.000) reduced to 17.5%. CONCLUSION: Possibility of low dose as an alternative to standard dose can be considered in view of comparable platelet response indicators and significantly reduced donor exposure.