American Red Cross

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Products

These products are routinely available.

• Red Blood Cells, leukoreduced – Two major types of red blood cell products are available:

  Red blood cells with 100 mL additive solution (AS-1, AS-3, or AS-5); final hematocrit usually 55 to 60 percent. Red blood cells with CPDA-1 solution (anticoagulant-preservative only); final hematocrit no higher than 80 percent.

  Red blood cells with additive solution (AS) contain red blood cells with 90 percent of the plasma removed and 100 mL of a special solution containing necessary additional preservative to increase shelf life. Additive solutions give the red blood cells a 42-day shelf life. Red blood cells with CPDA-1 solution have a 35-day shelf life. Due to the presence of the additional preservative solution, the AS units have a higher volume and lower hematocrit than red blood cells with CPDA-1 solution. RBC components are indicated for treatment of symptomatic deficit of oxygen carrying capacity due to lower hemoglobin level.

  Leukocyte reduction is accomplished by filtering red blood cells, resulting in a final product with at least 85 percent of the original red blood cells and a leukocyte number of less than 5 x 10⁶. Leukocyte-reduced components are indicated to decrease frequency of recurrent febrile nonhemolytic transfusion reactions.

  Note: Autologous red blood cell collections are not leukoreduced.

• Fresh Frozen Plasma – Plasma separated from whole blood or collected by apheresis and frozen within 8 hours of phlebotomy to preserve all clotting factors. This is stored at -18°c. Plasma transfusion is indicated for bleeding patients or patients undergoing surgical procedures with multiple coagulation factor deficiencies.

• Plasma Frozen, within 24 hours of the phlebotomy – Plasma frozen between 8-24 hours after collection and for transfusion purposes can be considered therapeutically equivalent to FFP.

• Platelets – A minimum of 5.5 x 10¹⁰ (1 unit) of platelets in 45 to 65 mL of plasma obtained by separating the platelet-rich plasma from one unit of fresh whole blood. Platelet transfusions are indicated when the platelet count is so low bleeding is likely.

• Irradiated Blood Components – Blood products which have been exposed to a measured amount of radiation, thereby rendering the donor lymphocytes incapable of replication. These are indicated for immunosupressed patients such as bone marrow transplant patients.

These products are available on special request.

• Platelets Pheresis Leukoreduced – Most bags contain a minimum of 3.0 x 10¹¹ platelets (equivalent to about 5 to 6 units of pooled random donor units) and less than 5 x 10⁶ leukocytes in 200 to 400 mL of plasma collected from a single donor by apheresis (automated cell separation devices).

• Cryoprecipitated AHF (Antihemophiliac Factor) – Each bag is prepared from one unit of whole blood and contains approximately 80 to 120 units of Factor VIII (antihemophilic factor) and greater than 150 mg of fibrinogen in 10-15 ml of plasma. Cryoprecipitate serve as a source for Factor VIII, fibrinogen, von Willebrand factor and Factor XIII.

• Plasma, cryoprecipitated reduced – This product is prepared from fresh frozen plasma by a process of rapid freezing, followed by thawing and centrifugation, which removes the cryoprecipitate and yields plasma that is deficient in factor VIII, von Willebrand factor (vWF), fibrinogen, cryoglobulin and fibronectin. Proteins such as albumin, Factors II, V, VII, IX, X and XI remain in the same concentration as in fresh frozen plasma.

• Whole blood and other red-cell-containing components – Whole blood contains the red cells and plasma constituents of circulating blood. Depending upon the collection system used, a single whole blood donation typically contains either 450 mL (±10%) or 500 mL (±10%) of blood with a minimum hematocrit of 38%.