Cost of Pathogen Reduction for platelets: reply to Cicchetti et al. Blood Transfus 2018; 16: 483-9

Abstract

Prewiev

Cicchetti et al.¹ describe pathogen reduction technologies (PRT) as preventative measures. PRT is the logical extension of the Precautionary Principle which has been underpinning blood safety since the acknowledged errors which led to the viral epidemics of the 1970s-1990s. Since its de facto adoption, the Principle has had to deal with an uneasy relationship with the growing incursion of health economics in the field of blood transfusion. The increasing prevalence of the type of analyses described by Cicchetti et al. has had little influence on the continuous series of public inquiries (such as that currently underway in the United Kingdom²) and has resulted in substantial criticism of the failure of blood agencies to implement safety measures when these became available. [ ... ]