Storage of Whole Blood for up to 24 Hours at Ambient Temperature prior to Component Preparation

The effect of rapid cooling to 20–24 °C of whole blood immediately after collection, using ‘cooling units' with butane‐1,4‐diol and prolonged storage up to 24 h at ambient temperature was investigated in the whole blood and the subsequently prepared plasma, buffy coat and buffy‐coat‐poor red cell concentrate (BC‐poor RCC) in saline‐adenine‐glucose‐mannitol (SAGM) solution. Factor VIII:C content of the plasma (n=10), after 24 h storage was 80± 3% of the initial value. In routine procedures factor VIII:C content in the plasma (n= 129 pools of 20 donor units plasma) was 0.77 ± 0.078 IU/ml, after storage of the whole blood for 16–20 h. In whole blood (n=10), the 2,3‐diphosphoglycerate (2,3‐DPG) content of the red cells decreased from 4.36 ± 0.55 to 1.47 ± 0.6 μmol/ml red cells after 24 h storage at 20–24°C. After storage of the BC‐poor RCC (n=10) at 2–6°C for 1 week, the 2,3‐DPG had dropped to 0.76 ± 0.46 μmol/ml red cells. During the first 24 h of storage of whole blood, the adenine triphosphate (ATP) levels of the red cells remained stable. A mean increase of 20% of the initial value was observed after addition of SAG M solution. In the BC‐poor RCC the ATP slowly decreased to 81 ± 5% after 5 weeks and to 68 ± 6.6% of the initial value after 6 weeks storage. In citrate‐phosphate‐dextrose blood the yield of platelets in the buffy coat was found to be 84 ± 6% (mean ± SD) of the original value when whole blood (n= 12) was stored for 16–20 h at 20–24 °C, as compared to 76 ± 18%, when buffy coats were prepared within 3 h after collection of whole blood without rapid cooling (n= 12). Rapid cooling of whole blood to 20–24 °C immediately after collection and subsequent storage of the whole blood up to 24 h contributes to the quality and standardization of the subsequently prepared blood components and will diminish processing at irregular hours.