Method for collecting blood components

Abstract

A method for collecting blood components, comprising: separating a first amount of plasma from whole blood; separating a total amount of collectable platelets from whole blood available after separating the first amount of plasma; if the total collection amount after the separation of the total amount of platelets is less than a maximum value adjusted by real-time data related to collection, then separating a second amount of plasma from the whole blood available after the separation of the total amount of platelets, and then separating a total amount of erythrocytes from the whole blood available after the separation of the second amount of plasma; and if the total collection amount is at a maximum adjusted by the real-time data relating to the collection, separating a total amount of red blood cells from the whole blood available after separating the total amount of platelets.

Description

Cross-reference to related applications

[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Patent Application No. 18 / 216,686, filed June 30, 2023. The entire disclosure of the above application is incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0002] This disclosure relates to a method for collecting blood components using a blood collection system. Background Technology

[0003] This section provides background information in connection with this disclosure, which is not necessarily prior art.

[0004] Blood collection systems used to collect blood from healthy donors for subsequent emergency and / or medical and / or therapeutic purposes generally fall into two main categories: manual blood collection systems and automated blood collection systems. Manual blood collection systems are those commonly seen and used in community blood donation drives, where blood from healthy donors is collected by gravity into one or more collection containers, and then (using, for example, a centrifuge system) the blood is separated into one or more components, such as red blood cells, plasma, and / or platelets, which are then used for emergency and / or medical and / or therapeutic purposes. Automated blood collection systems, however, use specialized machines to separate the collected blood into one or more components as it is being collected from the donor. In some variations, automated blood collection systems may push unselected components from one or more categories back to the donor.

[0005] Typically, automated blood collection systems include predictive software or programs that use received and / or collected donor-related information to determine appropriate flow rates and volumes, resulting in a final product that falls within the limits for volume, concentration, and final cell count for an individual donor as defined by government and / or blood center regulations and guidelines. Automated blood collection systems are also often configured to continuously monitor and regulate the collection process using real-time data to maintain acceptable donation levels (often referred to as low blood volume limitation). The calculated volume of red blood cells is typically the same as the regulated volume actually collected. However, platelet collection is often limited in real-time because plasma collection (i.e., the predicted volume collected) is completed first and triggers low blood volume limitation, which typically causes the automated blood collection system to terminate collection and initiate backwashing, thereby pushing the remaining blood components back to the donor. Therefore, it may be desirable to develop systems and methods for using such systems and methods that allow the typically more desirable platelet collection to be prioritized over plasma collection. Summary of the Invention

[0006] This section provides a general overview of the disclosure and is not a complete disclosure of the full scope of the disclosure or all its features.

[0007] In at least one exemplary embodiment, this disclosure provides a method for collecting blood components from a subject using an automated blood collection system. The method may include: separating a first amount of plasma from whole blood received from the subject; after separating the first amount of plasma from the whole blood, separating a total amount of collectable platelets from whole blood available after separating the first amount of plasma; and after separating the total amount of platelets, separating a second amount of plasma from whole blood available after separating the total amount of platelets.

[0008] In at least one exemplary embodiment, the first volume of plasma may be a total collectable plasma volume of less than, greater than or equal to, about 8 milliliters to less than or equal to, about 25 milliliters. The total volume of collectable plasma may be determined by a maximum or low blood volume level pre-selected for the subject and adjusted by real-time data related to collection.

[0009] In at least one exemplary embodiment, the method may further include: determining at least one of determining the total amount of collectable plasma and determining a first amount of plasma.

[0010] In at least one exemplary embodiment, the first volume of plasma may be the total amount of collectable plasma minus approximately 10 ml. The total amount of collectable plasma may be determined by a maximum or low blood volume level pre-selected for the subject and adjusted by real-time data related to collection.

[0011] In at least one exemplary embodiment, the second amount of plasma may be greater than or equal to about 8 milliliters to less than or equal to about 25 milliliters.

[0012] In at least one exemplary embodiment, the method may further include: determining whether the total collection volume has reached a maximum or low blood volume level pre-selected for the subject and adjusted by real-time data related to the collection, after the separation of the total platelet count and before the separation of the second plasma count.

[0013] In at least one exemplary embodiment, the method may further include: determining a second amount of plasma to be separated based on the relationship between the total collection volume and a maximum or low blood volume level pre-selected for the subject and adjusted by real-time data related to the collection.

[0014] In at least one exemplary embodiment, the method may further include: after separating a second amount of plasma, separating a total amount of red blood cells from whole blood available after separating the second amount of plasma.

[0015] In at least one exemplary embodiment, this disclosure provides a method for collecting blood components from a subject using an automated blood collection system. The method may include: separating a first amount of plasma from whole blood received from the subject; after separating the first amount of plasma from the whole blood, separating a total amount of collectable platelets from the whole blood available after separating the first amount of plasma; if, after separating the total amount of platelets, the total collected volume is less than a maximum value or low blood volume level pre-selected for the subject and adjusted by real-time data related to collection, then separating a second amount of plasma from the whole blood available after separating the total amount of platelets, and then separating a total amount of red blood cells from the whole blood available after separating the second amount of plasma; and if the total collected volume is at a maximum value or low blood volume level pre-selected for the subject and adjusted by real-time data related to collection, then separating a total amount of red blood cells from the whole blood available after separating the total amount of platelets.

[0016] In at least one exemplary embodiment, the method may further include: determining whether the total collected volume is less than or at a maximum or low blood volume level pre-selected for the subject and adjusted by real-time data related to the collection.

[0017] In at least one exemplary embodiment, the first volume of plasma may be a total collectable plasma volume of less than, greater than or equal to, about 8 milliliters to less than or equal to, about 25 milliliters. The total volume of collectable plasma may be determined by a maximum or low blood volume level pre-selected for the subject and adjusted by real-time data related to collection.

[0018] In at least one exemplary embodiment, the method may further include: determining at least one of a total amount of collectable plasma and a first amount of plasma.

[0019] In at least one exemplary embodiment, the first volume of plasma may be approximately 10 ml less than the total amount of collectable plasma. The total amount of collectable plasma is determined by a maximum or low blood volume level pre-selected for the subject and adjusted by real-time data related to collection.

[0020] In at least one exemplary embodiment, the method may further include determining a second amount of plasma to be separated based on a maximum or low blood volume level pre-selected for the subject and adjusted by real-time data related to the collection.

[0021] In at least one exemplary embodiment, this disclosure may provide a procedure used by an automated blood collection system configured to collect blood components from a subject. The procedure may include a pre-platelet plasma collection phase, a platelet collection phase following the pre-platelet plasma collection phase, and a post-platelet plasma collection phase following the platelet collection phase. The pre-platelet plasma collection phase may include separating a first amount of plasma from whole blood received from the subject. The platelet collection phase may include separating a total amount of collectable platelets from whole blood available after separating the first amount of plasma. The post-platelet plasma collection phase may include separating a second amount of plasma from whole blood available after separating the total amount of platelets.

[0022] In at least one exemplary embodiment, the first volume of plasma may be a total collectable plasma volume of less than, greater than or equal to, about 8 milliliters to less than or equal to, about 25 milliliters. The total volume of collectable plasma may be determined by a maximum or low blood volume level pre-selected for the subject and adjusted by real-time data related to collection.

[0023] In at least one exemplary embodiment, the first volume of plasma may be the total amount of collectable plasma minus approximately 10 ml. The total amount of collectable plasma may be determined by a maximum or low blood volume level pre-selected for the subject and adjusted by real-time data related to collection.

[0024] In at least one exemplary embodiment, the procedure may further include a calculation phase following the platelet collection phase and preceding the postplatelet plasma collection phase. The calculation phase may include determining whether the total collection volume is less than or at a pre-selected maximum or low blood volume level for the subject, adjusted by real-time data related to the collection. The total collection volume may also be referred to as the total donation volume or total blood volume, referring to the amount collected up to a designated point in the blood donation or collection cycle.

[0025] In at least one exemplary embodiment, the calculation phase may further include determining a second amount of plasma to be separated based on a maximum or low blood volume level pre-selected for the subject and adjusted by real-time data related to the collection.

[0026] In at least one exemplary embodiment, the procedure may further include a red blood cell phase. The red blood cell phase may include separating a total amount of red blood cells from whole blood available after separating a second amount of plasma.

[0027] Further applicable areas will become apparent from the description provided herein. The descriptions and specific examples in this overview are intended for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure. Attached Figure Description

[0028] The accompanying drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of the selected embodiments and do not represent all possible implementations, nor are they intended to limit the scope of this disclosure.

[0029] Figure 1 This is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method for using an automated blood collection system according to at least one exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. Detailed Implementation

[0030] Exemplary embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0031] Exemplary embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and will fully convey the scope to those skilled in the art. Numerous specific details, such as examples of specific components, devices, and methods, are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of this disclosure. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these specific details are not required, that exemplary embodiments may be implemented in many different forms, and that embodiments should not be construed as limiting the scope of this disclosure. In some exemplary embodiments, well-known processes, well-known device structures, and well-known technologies are not described in detail.

[0032] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular exemplary embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to also include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The terms “comprising,” “including,” “containing,” and “having” are inclusive and thus indicate the presence of the described features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof. The method steps, processes, and operations described herein should not be construed as requiring them to be performed in the particular order discussed or shown, unless specifically identified as such. It should also be understood that additional or alternative steps may be employed.

[0033] When an element or layer is said to be located “on”, “joined to”, “connected to”, or “coupled to” another element or layer, this element or layer may be directly located on, joined to, or coupled to the other element or layer, or there may be intermediate elements or layers present. Conversely, when an element is said to be located “directly” on, joined to, connected to, or coupled to another element or layer, there may be no intermediate elements or layers present. Other terms used to describe relationships between elements should be interpreted in a similar manner (e.g., “located between” versus “directly located between”, “adjacent” versus “directly adjacent”, etc.). As used herein, the term “and / or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated items listed.

[0034] While the terms first, second, third, etc., may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers, and / or segments, these elements, components, regions, layers, and / or segments should not be limited by these terms. These terms may be used only to distinguish one element, component, region, layer, or segment from another. When terms such as “first,” “second,” and other numerical terms are used herein, these terms do not imply order or sequence unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Therefore, without departing from the teachings of exemplary embodiments, the first element, component, region, layer, or segment discussed below may be referred to as the second element, component, region, layer, or segment.

[0035] For ease of description, spatial relative terms such as “inside,” “outside,” “below,” “under,” “below,” “above,” and “above” are used herein to describe the relationship between one element or feature and another element or feature as shown in the figure. In addition to covering the orientation depicted in the figure, spatial relative terms may also be intended to cover different orientations of the device during use or operation. For example, if the device in the figure is flipped over, an element described as being “below” or “below” other elements or features may be oriented to be “above” other elements or features. Thus, the exemplary term “below” can cover both upper and lower orientations. The device may be oriented in other ways (rotated 90 degrees or in other orientations), and the spatial relative descriptors used herein shall be interpreted accordingly.

[0036] Various components are referred to herein as “operably associated.” As used herein, “operably associated” means components that are operably connected together, and covers embodiments in which components are directly connected, as well as embodiments in which additional components are placed between connected components. “Operably associated” components can be “fluidly associated.” “Fluidally associated” means that components are connected together such that fluid can be transported between the components. “Fluidally associated” covers embodiments in which additional components are placed between two fluidly associated components and between directly connected components. Fluidly associated components may include components that do not contact the fluid but contact other components to manipulate a system (e.g., a peristaltic pump that pumps fluid through a flexible tube outside a compression tube).

[0037] In this application, including the definitions below, the terms "module" or "controller" may be replaced by the term "circuit". The term "module" may refer to, or may be part of, or may include: application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs); digital, analog, or mixed-signal analog / digital discrete circuits; digital, analog, or mixed-signal analog / digital integrated circuits; combinational logic circuits; field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs); processor circuitry that runs code (shared processor circuitry, dedicated processor circuitry, or a group of processor circuitry); memory circuitry that stores code executed by the processor circuitry (shared memory circuitry, dedicated memory circuitry, or a group of memory circuitry); other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality; or combinations of some or all of the foregoing, such as in a system-on-a-chip.

[0038] A module may include one or more interface circuits. In some exemplary embodiments, the interface circuit may include a wired or wireless interface connected to a local area network (LAN), the Internet, a wide area network (WAN), or a combination thereof. The functionality of any given module of this disclosure may be distributed among multiple modules connected via interface circuits. For example, multiple modules may allow load balancing. In another example, a server module (also referred to as a remote module or cloud module) may perform some functions on behalf of a client module.

[0039] The term "code," as used above, can include software, firmware, and / or microcode, and can refer to programs, routines, functions, classes, data structures, and / or objects. The term "shared processor circuitry" encompasses a single processor circuitry that runs some or all of the code from multiple modules. The term "group of processor circuitry" encompasses processor circuitry combined with additional processor circuitry to run some or all of the code from one or more modules. References to multiple processor circuitry encompass multiple processor circuitry on a discrete die, multiple processor circuitry on a single die, multiple cores of a single processor circuitry, multiple threads of a single processor circuitry, or a combination of the above. The term "shared memory circuitry" encompasses a single memory circuitry that stores some or all of the code from multiple modules. The term "group of memory circuitry" encompasses memory circuitry combined with additional memory to store some or all of the code from one or more modules.

[0040] The term memory circuit is a subset of the term computer-readable medium. As used herein, the term computer-readable medium does not cover transient electrical or electromagnetic signals propagating through a medium (e.g., propagating on a carrier wave); therefore, the term computer-readable medium can be considered tangible and non-transitory. Non-limiting examples of non-transitory, tangible computer-readable media are non-volatile memory circuits (e.g., flash memory circuits, erasable programmable read-only memory circuits, or masked read-only memory circuits), volatile memory circuits (e.g., static random access memory circuits or dynamic random access memory circuits), magnetic storage media (e.g., analog or digital magnetic tape or hard disk drives), and optical storage media (e.g., CDs, DVDs, or Blu-ray discs).

[0041] The apparatus and methods described in this application can be implemented, in part or in whole, by a dedicated computer, which is created by configuring a general-purpose computer to perform one or more specific functions embodied in a computer program. The aforementioned functional blocks, flowchart components, and other elements serve as software specifications that can be translated into computer programs by skilled technicians or programmers through their daily work.

[0042] A computer program includes processor-executable instructions stored on at least one non-transitory, tangible, computer-readable medium. A computer program may also include stored data or depend on stored data. A computer program may encompass a basic input / output system (BIOS) for interacting with the hardware of a special-purpose computer, device drivers for interacting with specific devices of the special-purpose computer, one or more operating systems, user applications, background services, background applications, etc.

[0043] Computer programs may include: (i) descriptive text to be parsed, such as HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), XML (Extensible Markup Language), or JSON (JavaScript Object Notation); (ii) assembly code; (iii) object code generated from source code by a compiler; (iv) source code run by an interpreter; (v) source code compiled and run by a just-in-time (JIT) compiler; and so on. As an example only, source code may be written using syntax from a variety of languages, including C, C++, C#, Objective-C, Swift, Haskell, Go, SQL, R, Lisp, Java®, Fortran, Perl, Pascal, Curl, OCaml, JavaScript®, HTML5 (Hypertext Markup Language version 5), Ada, ASP (Active Server Pages), PHP (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor), Scala, Eiffel, Smalltalk, Erlang, Ruby, Flash®, Visual Basic®, Lua, MATLAB, SIMULINK, and Python®.

[0044] Exemplary embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0045] This disclosure relates to methods and apparatus for collecting one or more blood components (such as platelets, red blood cells, and / or plasma) using an automated blood collection system, such as the blood collection system described in U.S. Patent No. 10,585,085, entitled "Collecting Components of a Fluid," published March 10, 2020, and / or the blood collection system described in U.S. Patent No. 9,758,764, entitled "Separating a Complex Liquid," published September 12, 2017, and / or the blood collection system described in U.S. Patent No. 10,618,060, entitled "Centrifuge Safety Mechanism," published April 14, 2020, and / or the blood collection system described in U.S. Patent No. 10,166,322, entitled "Gain in a Separation Process with a Control Loop," published January 1, 2019, and / or the blood collection system described in U.S. Patent No. 10,166,322, entitled "Gain in a Separation Process with a Control Loop," published January 1, 2019, and / or the blood collection system described in U.S. Patent No. 10,585,085, entitled "Collecting Components of a Fluid," published March 10, 2020, and / or the blood collection system described in U.S. Patent No. 9,758,764, entitled "Separating a Complex Liquid," published September 12, 2017, and / or the blood collection system described in U.S. Patent No. 10,166,322, entitled "Gain in a Separation Process with a Control Loop," published January 1, 2019 ... The blood collection system described in U.S. Patent No. 9,440,011, entitled “Mixed Blood Component Storage Bag and Method of Manufacturing Such Bag”, published September 13, 2016, and / or the blood collection system described in U.S. Patent No. 8,523,750, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Extracting Platelets in a Manner with Reduced Plasma Carrying”, published September 3, 2013, and / or the blood collection system described in U.S. Patent No. 8,123,713, entitled “System and Method for Collecting Plasma Protein Components from Separated Blood Components”, published February 28, 2012, and / or the blood collection system described in U.S. Patent No. 7,780,618, entitled “Extracorporeal Blood Processing Apparatus and Method Utilizing Pressure Sensing”, published August 24, 2010, the entire disclosure of these U.S. Patents is incorporated herein by reference. Typically, the methods for using automated blood collection systems generally involve: collecting whole blood from a donor or subject, separating the whole blood into one or more selected components (such as platelets, red blood cells, and plasma), and returning other unselected components (such as white blood cells) to the donor or subject.

[0046] Figure 1An exemplary method 100 for using an automated blood collection system is illustrated. Method 100 may include selecting 110 blood components to be collected and determining 120 the selected blood components to be collected from the donor in a donor-specific, safe amount or volume. Determining 120 may include performing initial calculations prior to the start of collection and may also include calculations using real-time data to ensure that safe and acceptable levels are observed. The selected blood components to be collected from the donor in a donor-specific, safe amount or volume may be determined using information entered by the user or donor or stored information (e.g., gender, height, weight, hematocrit and / or platelet count) and measurements from the ongoing collection (e.g., inlet volume and / or blood volume collected so far). The automated blood collection system (more specifically, controls or programs within the automated blood collection system) may be configured to change one or more parameters (e.g., flow rate) in response to the initial calculations and the ongoing calculations. When the level reaches or approaches a pre-selected level (e.g., low blood volume limit) set by government and / or blood center regulations and guidelines, an automated blood collection system (more specifically, the controls or procedures in the automated blood collection system) may be configured to generate an alarm to the provider or user or operator and / or initiate a backflow flush.

[0047] When plasma and platelets are identified as needing to be collected, method 100 may proceed to a pre-platelet plasma collection phase or a first plasma collection (PC) phase, which includes separating or collecting a pre-platelet or first volume or amount of plasma (using, for example, a centrifugation process) from whole blood upon receipt from a donor. The pre-platelet plasma collection phase occurs before sufficient platelets are aggregated or accumulated for collection. The first volume of plasma is less than the total amount or volume of collectable plasma initially calculated and / or adjusted (e.g., adjusted during ongoing calculations) for an individual donor according to government and / or blood center regulations and guidelines. For example, in at least one exemplary embodiment, the first volume may be a total collectable plasma volume less than, greater than, or equal to about 8 milliliters (mL) to less than or equal to about 25 milliliters. In at least one exemplary embodiment, the first volume may be a total collectable plasma volume less than about 10 milliliters. It should be appreciated that the total amount of collectable plasma may be continuously adjusted in response to new information collected or received in relation to the ongoing collection process (including new information collected or received during the pre-platelet collection phase). The total amount of collectable plasma used to determine the first quantity is the total amount of collectable plasma that is known and available at the decision point.

[0048] Following the pre-platelet plasma collection phase (or during a portion near the end of the pre-platelet plasma collection phase), method 100 may proceed to the platelet collection phase, which includes separating or collecting a total amount or volume of platelets (using, for example, a centrifugation process) from whole blood available after the pre-platelet plasma collection phase (or during a portion near the end of the pre-platelet plasma collection phase) (e.g., after the removal or extraction or collection or separation of the first amount of plasma). The total amount of collectable platelets may be a total amount initially calculated and / or adjusted (e.g., adjusted during ongoing calculations) for an individual donor in accordance with government and / or blood center regulations and guidelines. It should be appreciated that the total amount of collectable plasma may be continuously adjusted in response to new information collected or received in relation to the ongoing collection process (including new information collected or received during the platelet collection phase). It should also be appreciated that a second amount or volume of plasma may also be collected from whole blood available after the removal or extraction or collection or separation of the first amount of plasma during the pre-platelet plasma collection phase.

[0049] After the platelet collection phase (or during a portion of the platelet collection phase near the end), method 100 may proceed to an extended or post-platelet or second plasma collection (PC) phase and / or a red blood cell collection phase.

[0050] An extended plasma collection phase may include the separation or collection of 160 platelets or a third volume or amount of plasma (using, for example, a centrifugation process) from whole blood available after the pre-platelet plasma collection phase (or during a portion near the end of the pre-platelet plasma collection phase) (e.g., after the removal or extraction or collection or separation of a total amount of platelets and the removal or extraction or collection or separation of a second amount of plasma).

[0051] The red blood cell collection phase may include separating or collecting a total of 170 collectable red blood cells from whole blood available after the pre-platelet plasma collection phase (or during a portion near the end of the pre-platelet plasma collection phase) (e.g., after the removal or extraction or collection or separation of a total amount of platelets and the removal or extraction or collection or separation of a second amount of plasma) and / or after the extended plasma collection phase (or during a portion near the end of the extended plasma collection phase) (e.g., after the removal or extraction or collection or separation of a third amount of plasma) using, for example, a centrifugation process.

[0052] As shown, in Figure 1If, at decision point 150, real-time data indicates that the levels of plasma and platelets actually collected up to the decision point and the expected collection volume of red blood cells are individually and collectively below safe and acceptable limits (i.e., below low blood volume limits) and / or below pre-selected limits or default limits, then method 100 proceeds to an extended plasma collection phase. Therefore, the collection of a third amount of plasma and the volume of the third amount of plasma depend on the space remaining within acceptable limits (i.e., below low blood volume limits) and / or below pre-selected limits or default limits. In at least one exemplary embodiment, the third amount of plasma may include plasma greater than or equal to about 8 mm to less than or equal to about 25 ml, and in some aspects, optionally about 10 ml of plasma.

[0053] Conversely, if real-time data at decision point 150 indicates that the levels of plasma and platelets actually collected up to the decision point and the expected amount of red blood cells collected are at or near safe and acceptable limits (i.e., below low blood volume limits) and / or below pre-selected or default limits, then method 100 will bypass the second collection of plasma and proceed to the red blood cell collection phase. This procedure allows for the collection of the maximum amount of preferred platelets while operating under low blood volume limits and / or pre-selected or default limits.

[0054] Although not shown, it should be appreciated that in various embodiments, this disclosure may include one or more other steps or stages known to those skilled in the art.

[0055] The foregoing description of embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and description. The embodiments are not intended to be exhaustive or limiting of this disclosure. Various elements or features of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but are interchangeable where applicable, and may be used in chosen embodiments even if not specifically shown or described. Embodiments may also be varied in many ways. Such variations should not be considered a departure from this disclosure, but all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this disclosure.

Claims

1. A method for collecting blood components from a subject using an automated blood collection system, the method comprising: A first amount of plasma is separated from whole blood received from the subject; After separating the first amount of plasma from the whole blood, a total amount of collectable platelets is separated from the whole blood available after separating the first amount of plasma; and After separating the total amount of platelets, a second amount of plasma is separated from the whole blood available after separating the total amount of platelets.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The first amount of plasma is a total collectable plasma volume of less than, greater than or equal to about 8 milliliters to less than or equal to about 25 milliliters, the total collectable plasma volume being determined by a maximum or low blood volume level pre-selected for the subject and adjusted by real-time data related to collection.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein, The method further includes: determining at least one of the total amount of collectable plasma and determining a first amount of plasma.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The first volume of plasma is the total amount of collectable plasma minus approximately 10 mL, the total amount of collectable plasma being determined by a maximum or low blood volume level pre-selected for the subject and adjusted by real-time data related to collection.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The second volume of the plasma is greater than or equal to about 8 milliliters and less than or equal to about 25 milliliters.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The method further includes determining, after separating the total amount of platelets and before separating the second amount of plasma, whether the total collection volume has reached a maximum or low blood volume level pre-selected for the subject and adjusted by real-time data related to the collection.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The method further includes determining the second amount of plasma to be separated based on the relationship between the total collected volume and a pre-selected maximum or low blood volume level for the subject, adjusted by real-time data related to the collection.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The method further includes: after separating the second amount of plasma, separating the total amount of red blood cells from the whole blood available after collecting the second amount of plasma.

9. A method for collecting blood components from a subject using an automated blood collection system, the method comprising: A first amount of plasma is separated from whole blood received from the subject; After separating the first amount of plasma from the whole blood, a total amount of collectable platelets is separated from the whole blood available after separating the first amount of plasma; If the total collected volume is less than a pre-selected maximum or low blood volume level adjusted by real-time data related to the collection for the subject, a second amount of plasma is separated from the whole blood available after the separation of the total platelet count, and then the total amount of red blood cells is separated from the whole blood available after the separation of the second amount of plasma; and If the total collection volume is at a maximum or low blood volume level pre-selected for the subject and adjusted by real-time data related to the collection, then the total red blood cells are separated from the whole blood available after the total platelets are separated.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein, The method further includes determining whether the total collected volume is less than or at a maximum or low blood volume level pre-selected for the subject and adjusted by real-time data related to the collection.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein, The first amount of plasma is a total collectable plasma volume of less than, greater than or equal to about 8 milliliters to less than or equal to about 25 milliliters, the total collectable plasma volume being determined by a maximum or low blood volume level pre-selected for the subject and adjusted by real-time data related to collection.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein, The method further includes determining at least one of the total amount of collectable plasma and a first amount of plasma.

13. The method according to claim 9, wherein, The first volume of plasma is approximately 10 mL smaller than the total amount of collectable plasma, which is determined by a maximum or low blood volume level pre-selected for the subject and adjusted by real-time data related to collection.

14. The method according to claim 9, wherein, The method further includes determining the second amount of plasma to be separated based on a maximum or low blood volume level pre-selected for the subject and adjusted by real-time data related to the collection.

15. A procedure for use in an automated blood collection system configured to collect blood components from a subject, the procedure comprising: The pre-platelet plasma collection phase includes separating a first amount of plasma from whole blood received from the subject; The platelet collection phase includes, following the pre-platelet plasma collection phase, separating a total amount of collectable platelets from the whole blood available after separating the first amount of plasma; and The post-platelet plasma collection phase includes, after the platelet collection phase, separating a second amount of plasma from the whole blood available after the total amount of platelets has been separated.

16. The procedure according to claim 15, wherein, The first amount of plasma is a total collectable plasma volume of less than, greater than or equal to about 8 milliliters to less than or equal to about 25 milliliters, the total collectable plasma volume being determined by a maximum or low blood volume level pre-selected for the subject and adjusted by real-time data related to collection.

17. The procedure according to claim 15, wherein, The first volume of plasma is the total amount of collectable plasma minus approximately 10 mL, the total amount of collectable plasma being determined by a maximum or low blood volume level pre-selected for the subject and adjusted by real-time data related to collection.

18. The procedure of claim 15, further comprising a calculation phase after the platelet collection phase and before the postplatelet plasma collection phase, the calculation phase comprising: Determine whether the total collected volume is less than or at a pre-selected maximum or low blood volume level for the subject, adjusted by real-time data related to the collection.

19. The procedure according to claim 18, wherein, The calculation phase further includes determining the second amount of plasma to be separated based on a maximum or low blood volume level pre-selected for the subject and adjusted by real-time data related to the collection.

20. The procedure according to claim 15, wherein, The procedure also includes a red blood cell phase, which involves separating a total amount of red blood cells from the whole blood available after the separation of the second amount of plasma.

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