“Researchers who tested the use of refrigerated platelets say their results could more than triple the supply available to help save bleeding patients.
Platelets are a blood component that’s crucial for clotting and stemming blood loss. Donated platelets are conventionally stored at room temperature with a five-to-seven-day shelf life.
At 27 hospitals in the U.S. and Australia, 1,000 children and adults undergoing cardiac surgery received either room-temperature platelets stored for less than seven days or chilled platelets.
Platelets refrigerated for up to three weeks were just as effective at treating bleeding as the room-temperature platelets, the researchers reported in JAMA.
A significant proportion of the 2.5 million room-temperature platelet units collected each year in the U.S. are wasted due to the short shelf life, the researchers noted…
Presently, rural and community hospitals for the most part cannot justify keeping room-temperature platelets in stock because they don’t often treat severely bleeding patients, his team noted.”
From Reuters.
