inline and offline extracorporal photopheresisi:device performance,cell yields and clinical response

Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) is an effective treatment for graft‐vs‐host‐disease (GvHD). Photopheresis can be performed in offline or inline method. The first uses a conventional cell separator for collection of mononuclear‐cells that are photoactivated by a separate device and manually reinfused; the second one involves a dedicated device performing the entire procedure (collection, photoactivation and reinfusion). Study design and methods The objective was to compare the two methods and cell product features to highlight key process, devices performance, and to evaluate ECP clinical response. Patients developing steroid‐resistant GvHD underwent ECP as second‐line treatment using either inline (Therakos CellEx) or offline system (Terumo BCT Spectra or Optia and UVA PIT system). Data about patients' features, pre‐apheresis blood‐count, cell product characteristics and clinical response were collected for analysis