Comparison of cobe spectra and haemonetics MCS-3P cell separators for peripheral blood stem cell harvesting

A prospective study was undertaken to compare the total nucleated cell (TNC), mononuclear cell (MNC), CD34 + cell, and CFU-GM yields of two different cell separators. A Haemonetics MCS-3P and a Cobe Spectra machine were used to leukapherese 10 patients with malignant diseases on 4 consecutive days after mobilization with G-CSF. All patients were harvested twice on each machine for a fixed period of time. The blood volume processed (10.47 vs 3.79 l, P < 0.001), MNC yield (2.66 vs 0.90 x10 8 /kg ; P < 0.001), MNC yield rate (1.66 vs 0.55 x 10 6 /kg/min ; P < 0.001), MNC purity (81 vs 42% ; P < 0.001), CFU-GM yield (18.1 vs 5.5 x 10 4 /kg ; P = 0.001), and CFU-GM yield rate (11.27 vs 3.42 x 10 2 /kg/min ; P = 0.001) were significantly higher with the Spectra. The CD34 + cell yields and yield rates were comparable. Although CFU-GM and MNC yields per unit blood volume processed were comparable for both machines, there was a trend for higher CD34 + yields per unit volume processed with MCS-3P. We conclude that Spectra is faster than MCS-3P with more blood processed per unit time resulting in higher cell yields, but yields per unit volume processed are comparable for both machines. The choice of machine for a given patient depends upon convenience, venous access and the time available.