Research that Transfusion of "Older" Blood May Be Harmful to Patients

There was a time when I, in a previous incarnation as a blood banker, spent a lot of time thinking about the shelf life of blood and how to increase the utilization of blood in blood bank inventory. Hence, a recent article about this topic caught my eye, partly out of a sense of nostalgia (see: The Shelf Life of Donor Blood). Here is an excerpt from it: For decades, the Food and Drug Administration has limited storage of refrigerated red blood cells to 42 days. But it has been clear for some time that stored blood degrades in various ways long before that six-week limit, and some research suggests that the changes may be harmful to patients who receive older blood. Now a study published in the journal Anesthesia & Analgesia has found that after even 21 days, the membranes of stored blood cells have stiffened, apparently the result of damage over time. That’s a problem because red blood cells are about the same diameter as small capillaries, and they have to change shape to get through.....“What we showed is that the cell membranes lose their flexibility,” said the lead author, Dr. Steven M. Frank....“That makes it more difficult for them to travel through.” The study also found that the older blood cells did not recover their flexibility after being transfused into patients, unlike certain other kinds of changes that blood cells undergo during storage. For example, nitric oxide, essential to keep blood vessels open, is depleted from cells after a few...
Source: Lab Soft News - Category: Pathologists Authors: Tags: Blood Banking Clinical Lab Industry News Clinical Lab Testing Hospitals and Healthcare Delivery Lab Processes and Procedures Laboratory Industry Trends Medical Research Source Type: blogs