Practical guidelines for process validation and process control of white cell‐reduced blood components: report of the Biomedical Excellence for Safer Transfusion (BEST) Working Party of the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT)

Guidelines are presented for process validation, process control, and assessment of conformance in the production of WBC-reduced blood components. Policy makers retain the responsibility to establish, on the basis of the expected use of WBC-reduced components, requirements for the frequency of testing and for the proportion of prepared units that are expected with a stated degree of confidence to meet the standards. Facilities preparing WBC-reduced components can monitor key factors that influence the preparation of WBC-reduced blood, can periodically assess their conformance with the standards, and can intervene to correct adverse changes in the process. This approach can be used to ensure the consistent quality of WBC-reduced blood components.