Protect Patients From Non-Infectious Risks

TA-GvHD is a rare, but fatal complication in which leucocytes that may be present in donated blood are transfused to the patient and mount an immune response against the patient’s cells. Prevention of TA-GvHD is accomplished by irradiating labile blood products (gamma or X-ray) for patients at risk. However, identifying such patients is challenging and bears the risk that irradiated blood components are either not prescribed by the clinician or wrong blood components (non-irradiated blood components) are transfused to the wrong patient through human error. Data have shown at least 10-fold greater inactivation of T-cells with INTERCEPT™ treatment compared to gamma irradiation.¹ INTERCEPT™ can officially be used as an alternative to gamma irradiation for the prevention of TA-GvHD and doesn’t bear the previous mentioned risks.

Patients with haematology-oncology issues require platelet transfusion support that may potentiate acute pulmonary injury. Treatment-emerged assisted mechanical ventilation (TEAMV-PD) as a means to treat patients with ARDS, is a significant intervention that affects the long-term outcome of patients during treatment of haematology-oncology disorders. In a very large randomised and controlled clinical study,² INTERCEPT™ treated platelets compared with conventional platelets, demonstrated a high probability of significantly reduced severe pulmonary injury requiring assisted mechanical ventilation in patients with haematology disorders dependent on platelet transfusion.

Among labile blood products, platelet concentrates (PCs) are the leading cause of allergic transfusion reactions (ATRs) and hypersensitivity transfusion reactions (HTRs). These reactions often lead to interruption of PC transfusion and can result in a prolonged transfusion process, leading to significant morbidity and use of premedication and close monitoring for patients with a history of allergic transfusion reactions. A retrospective analysis of the French haemovigilance network data showed that INTERCEPT™ treated PC stored in platelet additive solution (PAS) exhibited the lowest frequency of ATRs and HTRs when compared with their corresponding PCs in native plasma or PAS.³

Swiss haemovigilance data shows a significant reduction of transfusion reactions since the nation-wide introduction of INTERCEPT™ treatment for platelets, especially for severe reactions and those with high imputability.⁴ Another study analyzing the long-term experience of the usage of INTERCEPT™ treated platelets by studying the rate and distribution of adverse events from the official French haemovigilance reports,⁵ shows a continuous reduction in reported cases for several adverse events including allo-immunization, FNHTR and other. A single centre study from France reported that the introduction of Patient Additive Solution (PAS) resulted in an approx. 50% reduction of platelet-related transfusion reactions, the additional introduction of INTERCEPT™ treatment resulted in an additional 50% reduction (75% reduction together).⁶