Assessment of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) Preparing Hygienic Condition in the Blood Donation Centers during the Outbreak of COVID-19

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has led to an alteration in hygienic conditions. In this situation, improving standard operating procedures (SOPs) in blood donation centers is critical. The purpose of this study was the assessment of SOPs in the blood donation centers during the outbreak of COVID-19 by regular blood donors as external audits. Materials and Methods: Regular donors were selected as external inspectors in 31 provinces of Iran. The questionnaire containing 10 closed questions was provided to assess the hygienic SOPs of blood transfusion centers in the prevention of COVID-19 transmission. Comparison and evaluation of questionnaires were conducted by assigning an importance coefficient (IC)  score to each question. Results: Assessment of SOPs in blood donation departments by regular donors in 31 provinces of Iran showed that 18 centers (58.1%) received IC scores >10(Strong performance), 7 centers (22.6%) received the range of IC scores between7-10(acceptable performance), and 6 centers (19.4%) received IC scores <7(poor performance). The difference in IC scores between provinces was not statistically significant. Conclusion: This study confirms that the assessment of blood donation centers through regular blood donor inspection is a reliable method to identify the strengths and weaknesses of blood transfusion center services and ultimately leads to corrective intervention and improvement of hygienic SOPs to prevent COVID-19 transmission

Autologous platelet-rich plasma eye drops accelerate re-epithelialization of post-keratoplasty persistent corneal epithelial defects

Purpose: To investigate whether autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRP) eye drops accelerate re-epithelialization of post-keratoplasty persistent corneal epithelial defects (PEDs). Methods: A total of 34 eyes with PEDs after keratoplasty (24 penetrating keratoplasty and 10 deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty) that were refractory to conventional medical treatments were treated with PRP eye drops every 3 hours. PRP eye drops were prepared with a low- and high-speed centrifugation method and final platelet counts were 700,000-800,000 plt/μl. The mean treatment duration for complete re-epithelialization was compared with the mean treatment duration of conventionally treated corneal defects before the PRP treatment by paired t-test. The mean treatment duration was also statistically analyzed between age groups, gender, indications for keratoplasty, and types of keratoplasty using analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results: Treatment with autologous PRP eye drops led to rapid re-epithelialization in all eyes. The mean treatment duration for complete re-epithelialization was 2.47 ± 1.21 weeks, which was significantly shorter than the mean treatment duration of conventionally treated corneal defects before PRP treatment (6.82 ± 1.24 weeks) (P = 0.0001). There was no significant correlation between re-epithelialization time and patients' age, sex, indications for keratoplasty, and techniques of corneal transplantation. Conclusion: Treatment with autologous PRP eye drops is an effective and reliable approach that accelerates re-epithelialization of post-transplantation PEDs