Ambient overnight hold of whole blood prior to the manufacture of blood components

Abstract

Blood services routinely separate whole blood into components that are then stored under different conditions. The storage conditions used for whole blood prior to separation must therefore be a compromise between the needs of the red cells (which benefit from refrigeration) and plasma and platelets (which are better preserved at ambient temperature). For many years, the approach has been to manufacture plasma and platelet components on the day of blood collection, and to refrigerate any unprocessed blood for manufacture into red cell components on the following day. However, this can make it challenging to maintain adequate stocks of all components. The European practice of 'ambient hold' of whole blood for up to 24 hours prior to processing allows greater flexibility in blood component manufacture, and the data reviewed suggest there is relatively little impact on the quality of red cell or plasma components, and an improvement in the quality of platelet components.

Overnight, room temperature hold of whole blood followed by 42‐day storage of red blood cells in additive solution‐7

“…Levin and colleagues commented that all manufacturing may be performed the day after collection without a need to be concerned about staffing night shifts. Similarly, Thomas mentions increased flexibility in whole blood collection and processing operations, with an improved likelihood of selecting more male plasma for distribution and reducing the risk of lung injury. These qualitative observations and conclusions from blood center operational experts are compelling even though they lack solid quantitative measures.…”

Process Improvement by Eliminating Mixing of Whole Blood Units after an Overnight Hold Prior to Component Production Using the Buffy Coat Method

“…Many aspects of the processes used to produce components from WB have been intensively investigated, including collection and storage bags [18], the anticoagulant used for WB collection, the importance of adequate mixing of the WB and anticoagulant at donation [19, 20], and the optimal time and temperature of WB storage prior to component production [21, 22]. However, there are elements of the process that are nonevidence based, and this study assessed one such step to determine whether it is value added or has any effect on product quality.…”

Overnight storage of whole blood: cooling and transporting blood at room temperature under extreme temperature conditions

“…In Canada, as well as in many other countries, guidelines for the preparation of blood products allow blood banks to store whole blood (WB) units up to 24 h before processing, provided that the blood is actively chilled to 22 ± 2°C. This is usually achieved by placing the whole blood bags under cooling plates filled with butane‐1,4‐diol, which rapidly cool fresh blood units from a postcollection temperature of about 34°C to 22 ± 2°C within 2–3 h . This rapid cooling maintains blood product quality, while normalizing temperature history of WB units before processing .…”

“…This rapid cooling maintains blood product quality, while normalizing temperature history of WB units before processing . The routine use of cooling plates represents an important operational challenge for blood banks, particularly when WB units are collected on remote sites . After a conditioning step of several hours at 4°C, cooling plates must stand for several minutes at ambient temperature to allow their temperature to reach 14–16°C to prevent damages to platelets.…”