摘要 |
Whole blood is separated in a separation chamber (12) into a red blood cell layer (RBC) and a platelet rich plasma (PRP) layer. A portion of the PRP layer is conveyed along an outlet path (108) to a leukocyte filter (14), which removes leukocytes from the PRP. The remaining portion of the PRP is conveyed along a bypass path (112), which bypasses the filter (14), to be mixed with the whole blood being conveyed to the separation chamber (12). A controller (88) controls flow in the bypass path (112) to maintain a predetermined surface hematocrit of the blood entering the separation chamber (12). The arrangement improves RBC/PRP separation and improves leukocyte removal by the filter (14). <IMAGE> |