Evaluation of 99mtechnetium/51chromium post-transfusion recovery of red cells stored in saline, adenine, glucose, mannitol for 42 days.

An in vivo and in vitro study of 42-day saline, adenine, glucose, mannitol (SAGM) red cells (Terumo Corporation, Elkton, Md.) was conducted using 20 volunteers to document in vivo efficacy and analyze the validity of the 99mTc/51Cr technique. In vivo autologous post-transfusion recovery was measured by a double-label procedure involving the use of 99mTc-labeled freshly drawn red cells to quantify recipient blood volume and 51Cr to document both post-transfusion 24-hour recovery (PTR) and red cell survival. As an internal control, 5 of the 20 donors studied had red cell volumes estimated by the 125I-albumin (RISA) plasma volume technique on a separate occasion. For comparison, PTR was also calculated according to the single-label 51Cr protocol in which recipient blood volume was estimated by extrapolation from circulating 51Cr-labeled red cell activity 5-15 min after infusion. After 42 days of storage, PTR averaged 78 +/- 6% with the double-label 99mTc/51Cr technique and 81 +/- 5% with the single-label (51Cr alone), confirming a small difference between the two techniques. Correlation between the two techniques was high, r = 0.81, though the average 3% difference between them was significant (p less than 0.05). Red cell volumes of the 5 donors measured by both the 99mTc-red cell method and the 125I-albumin method exhibited excellent correlation, r = 0.96, and averaged 1,961 +/- 420 ml and 2,048 +/- 381 ml, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)