Preparation of leukocyte-poor blood: a comparison of IBM 2991 washing and Huggins freeze-thawing.

Frequently, forzen blood is requested in order to provide a leukocyte-poor red cell transfusion and a reduced level of exposure to hepatitis virus rather than in an effort to find serological compatible red blood cells. However, this usage of frozen blood is expensive and, as recently reported, does not eliminate the risk of transmission of hepatitis. To assess the feasibility of substituting washed cell preparations, we have compared the Huggins frozen blood process with the IBM 2991 cell washing technique and have evaluated the efficiency of leukocyte removal and red cell recovery from homologous pools of fresh blood. The results of these experiments combined with the greatly decreased cost (approximately 1/3) and time required (approximately 1/6) indicate that many of the requests which blood banks receive for frozen blood could, in fact, be better met by using cells which have been washed in the IBM 2991.