?New method of preserving blood.

[Naive]

Hi, I’m currently in hospital and just started the first of two units of blood. When the nurses checked my details etc they stated the expiry as 17th March 2019!!!

I queried this because every other transfusion has been a maximum of two weeks to expiry, not 17 months.

It took 8 hours to be able to find suitable blood for me because of my antibodies...is there some technique they use to be able to use mismatched blood but also extends its shelf life?

I’ve always had leukocyte depleted and irradiated blood so I don’t think this has made a difference to the bloods longevity in the past.

Carol.

[Neil Cuadra]

Carol,

The date on that blood could have been a labeling mistake. If not, the expiration date is a mystery to me.

Blood can be stored for a decade if it's frozen. It has to be prepared and frozen in a certain way, and the thawing process is even trickier. But it works, and freezing can be used to store blood of very rare blood types. Here are some details.

However, the usual way of storing blood involves cooling, not freezing, and the blood can be stored for only 6 weeks.

[Naive]

Thank you Neil. I queried the expiry date twice and I received some silly response about the irradiation giving the blood a longer shelf life. As the blood I always receive is irradiated I knew that the nurse was making up an answer because she didn’t know.
I’ve had the blood with no ill effects (so far) but I still think it was an error and the blood shouldn’t have been given.

I’ve had my second unit of blood as well and I noticed that no one checked the expiry on the second unit. The whole thing seems a bit iffy. The haematologist says I need another transfusion before I’m discharged during the week and I’ll be taking notice what the expiry says on that or those units.

I worry that sometimes safe handling isn’t always practiced but because you need to have treatment at that facility it doesn’t pay to ask too many questions or query their procedures...you may suffer the consequence of not very happy staff. It’s a fine line between keeping safe and annoying people with too many questions.

I read that article you gave a link to and I’m 100% positive the blood wasn’t frozen because I’m plain old O pos, my only issue is the antibodies and I wasn’t in any dire medical emergency that warranted an immediate transfusion. It took around 8 or 9 hours to find suitable blood.

Carol