Blood Age Linked to Infections in Transfusions
Author: tiger Published Under: Health
There have been many advances in blood storing technology. Today, there are blood banks all over the World, which provide new life to millions of people every day. Today, the generally accepted shelf life of blood is 42 day, but a new report seems to indicate this figure is too high.
A blood transfusion is the transfer of blood from one persons body to another. People have been experimenting with transfusions for many years, with the first successful transfusion between humans taking place in the sixteen-hundreds. Despite numerous experiments and attempts, it would not be until the nineteen-hundreds that blood that had been stored and cooled would be used.
The first non-direct blood transfusion using cooled blood was preformed by an American Officer named Oswald Hope Robertson. He completed this transfusion in 1916 and later went on to start the first blood bank during World War I. The ability to store blood and use it at a later time would drastically change modern medicine.
The problem that had prevented a non-direct transfusion was that blood clots, or coagulates, within a few days of being removed from the body. This meant that up until the nineteen-hundreds, blood had an extremely short shelf life.
Scientists had discovered that by using an anticoagulant, blood could be safely stored for an extended period of time. Over the years, many advancements have been made that allow blood to last longer, while using less anticoagulant.
Current US Government regulations require that blood over 42 days old should be thrown out. A recent study has found that people who receive blood that is over 29 days old are at an increased risk of infection.
This study, which was led by Dr. Raquel Nahra at Cooper University Hospital, thoroughly analyzed the medical records of over 400 transfusion recipients. These individuals were all over the age of 66 and visited the intensive care ward between 2003 and 2006.
After careful analysis, they found that almost 60 patients who received transfusions using blood over thirty days old contracted a serious infection and 11 died. Those who received blood older than 29 days old, were twice as likely to become infected. The age of the oldest unit of blood given to the patient as well as the age of the first unit of blood given, were both found to play a part in the risk of infection.
This is not the first time that this relationship has been noticed. In 2006, a researcher at Duke University concluded that individuals who received blood over 31 days old were at an increased risk of death.