Test for the evaluation of the acetylsalicylic acid-induced platelet function defect in plateletpheresis donors

Objective: A simple and inexpensive platelet function test for evaluation of the platelet function defect after intake of acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) is introduced. The test is evaluated as screening test for blood donors. Design: Prospective evaluation. Setting: Blood bank of the 'Institut fur Transfusionsmedizin' of a university clinic. Participants: 5 volunteers, 112 plateletpheresis donors, and 90 whole-blood donors. Interventions: Volunteers ingested a single dose of 500 mg ASA and were tested for the consecutive 5 days. Plateletpheresis donors who were questionned for ASA intake before donation and said no were tested. Whole-blood donors were tested to examine frequency of ASA intake in whole-blood donors. Results: The ASA-induced platelet function defect could be detected for at least 2 (2-5) days after ingestion of the drug. 4 (3.6%) out of 112 plateletpheresis donors were test positive. 3 from 4 test-positive plateletpheresis donors remembered ASA ingestion after confrontation with the test result. 8 out of 90 (8.9%) whole-blood donors were test positive. Conclusions: Screening for ASA intake could be necessary in plateletpheresis donors due to the widespread use of the drug. It can be easily performed with the introduced test. As a first step we suggest an assessment of ASA ingestion frequency in the own donor collective. Measures can be taken if prevalence of ASA ingestion is significant and screening could be one consequence. Testing could also increase discipline in plateletpheresis donors.