Blood transfusion: Merits of component therapy: I. The clinical use of red cells, platelets, and granulocytes

Abstract

BLOOD transfusion is frequently required to facilitate delivery of oxygen to tissues, to promote hemostasis, and to correct hypovolemia. Unfortunately, it is not generally appreciated that administration of a specific blood component may be equally or more effective than infusion of whole blood. It is hol~ed that through physician education maximum appropriate utilization of blood components will be realized. Freshly drawn blood may be easily fractionated into three major components: packed red cells, platelets, and plasma. Plasma may be used as a volume expander, or may be fresh frozen and used to supply coagulation factors such as V and VIII which are relatively labile under conditions of routine blood bank storage. Plasma may also be processed to provide highly concentrated solutions of factor VIII, fibrinogen, albumin, gamma globulin, or the factor II-VII-IX-X complex. Since it is only rarely that all components present in fresh blood are needed in a given clinical situation, the large-scale,