Effects of Prolonged Room Temperature Holding of Whole Blood Intended for Preparation of Components

Abstract

Current FDA regulations require that platelet concentrates must be prepared within four hours of whole blood collection. To determine if this time period was critical for the harvesting of viable platelets and other blood components, whole blood was held at room temperature for four, six or eight hours after which various components were prepared. Our results indicate that up to eight hours storage had no detrimental effect on platelet yield, recovery in vivo or lifespan. AHF activity, supernatant hemoglobin and red blood cell ATP were also unaffected.