The use of calcium chelating agents and prostaglandin E₁ to eliminate platelet and white blood cell losses resulting from hemoperfusion through uncoated charcoal, albumin-agarose gel, and neutral and cation exchange resins

Hemoperfusion through absorbents such as charcoal, cation exchange (e.g., AG 50W-X8) and uncharged (e.g., XAD-2) resins, and albumin-agarose gel (AAG) has been proposed for use in patients with hepatic failure. However, the loss of white blood cells and, particularly, platelets caused by each of these adsorbents remains a major deterrent to their clinical use. In vitro studies demonstrate that addition of citrate, ethylenediamine tetraacetate (EDTA), or oxalate to heparinized human blood eliminates this loss of formed blood elements during hemoperfusion. The improvement in postperfusion platelet counts (per cent of preperfusion values) produced by citrate were XAD-2, 13 → 95 per cent; AG 50W-X8, 10 → 94 per cent; AAG, 17 → 94 per cent; and charcoal, 44 → 96 per cent. Prostaglandin E₁ in high doses (5 μg/ml.) markedly reduced platelet losses. Lower doses were less uniformly effective. Three young rhesus monkeys were hemoperfused for 160 minutes with columns containing AAG, XAD-2, and charcoal. During the first 80 minutes, citrate and calcium were infused into the column inflow and outflow lines respectively. For all three adsorbents, average platelet counts in the monkeys (115 per cent) and column effluent (95 per cent) were unchanged from preperfusion control values during the first 80 minutes but fell promptly to 13 and 7 per cent, respectively, after the citrate infusion was stopped. Each of the monkeys tolerated the procedure without ill effects. Use of a system analogous to that described here may facilitate clinical application of the technique of hemoperfusion through a variety of adsorbents.