Clotted Apheresis Hematopoietic Stem Cell Product

The majority of the time hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC) are collected through leukapheresis, where anticoagulants are necessary to prevent clotting of the apheresis circuit and HPC product. Although clotting of the product is a possible rare complication surrounding the HPC cryopreservation process, there have been no reports of clotting of fresh HPC product after collection. We report a case of progressive clotting of a fresh matched unrelated donor HPC product. Upon initial receipt, thin thread-like white clots were seen in the bag. In an attempt to isolate the clot, the product was aseptically aliquoted into 50 mL syringes. Within the next 60 minutes the small clots coalesced into a pink cylindrical jelly-like blood clot surrounded by serum. In the future, an anticoagulant can be added into the product prior to isolation of the clot.