• James A Mays and John R Hess.
• Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, United States of America.
• Blood Transfus. 2017 Mar 1; 15 (2): 153-157.

BackgroundAll blood components undergo loss of potency during storage. These loss-of-potency storage lesions are important in trauma resuscitation because they reduce the haemostatic capacity of mixtures of components that attempt to reconstitute whole blood. Even red cell storage-related loss of potency, which averages 17% with modern additive solutions, is important because 6 units of red cells must be given to achieve the effect of 5 fully potent units.Materials And MethodsLoss of potency of stored units of red blood cells, plasma, platelets, and cryoprecipitate were summed for dilutional, storage-related, pathogen reduction-related, and splenic sequestration-related causes and expressed as fractional plasma coagulation factor concentrations and platelet counts.ResultsProduction of reconstituted whole blood from 1:1:1 unit ratios of red cells:plasma:platelets is associated with a 38% loss of plasma coagulation factor concentration and 56% loss of platelets. Storage losses of 17% for red cells, 10% for coagulation factors, and 30% for platelets are additive to pathogen reduction-related losses of 18% for coagulation factors and 30% for platelets.DiscussionComponent preparation and storage-related losses of potency for all blood components are serious problems for trauma resuscitation. Even red cell storage contributes to this problem and this can be made better in ways that can save many lives each year.

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