Effect of a preparative technique on the viability of concentrated red cells.

In a study of the technique employed by the Canadian Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service in Montreal, the authors found that the packed red blood cells from 10 healthy donors had a mean hematocrit of 83 +/- 1.45 with a 24-hour red cell survival after three weeks' storage of 79.4 +/- 2%. The technique used a centrifugal force of 6975 G, the practical maximum of present-day equipment. In addition to finding excellent survival of packed cells subjected to extreme plasma deprivation and extreme forces of centrifugation they also report excellent survival of stored, highly concentrated red cells infused under pressure.