Abstract
The objective of this study is to evaluate the influence of shortened preservation period of concentrated red cells stored in MAP additive solution (RC-MAP), whose preservation period is currently 42 days, on the effective utilization of RC-MAP.
Mean duration until the use of blood after blood collection from donors was 10.1 and 8.0 days in 1 unit and 2 unit product of RC-MAP, respectively. Most of all units were used within 21 days after blood collection (93.7% for 1 unit product and 97.8% for 2 unit product of RC-MAP). Most of blood units, which were used at our hospital over 21 days of collection, had already passed 15 days at the time of delivery by the blood center. Forty-six percents of such blood were Rh negative blood and/or were delivered from other prefectures. However, particular reason why they were delivered after 15 days of blood collection was not found in 54% of them. If the preservation period of RC-MAP will be decided to be 21 days or 28 days, the units of discarded blood, which is currently 0 unit at our hospital, is estimated to be 195 units (3.7%) or 67 units (1.3%), respectively. In addition, if the blood over 15 days of blood collection is not supplied from the blood center, the units of discarded blood can be decreased to 128 units (2.5%) for a 21 days preservation period and 27 units (0.5%) for a 28 days preservation period.
Our data indicate that the blood centers should supply RC-MAP to all hospitals within 14 days after blood collection in order to achieve the effective utilization of RC-MAP if the preservation period is shortened.
