Making and storing blood to save lives

Abstract

Blood can be a scarce resource, but a multitude of approaches are promising new ways to store, create, and deliver blood’s component parts to patients in need . As soon as a wounded person starts hemorrhaging, the clock is ticking. The quicker an emergency responder can stop the bleeding and replace that blood, the better the chances are for survival. But most bleeding patients do not receive optimal prehospital trauma care, including blood transfusions. That costs lives—up to 30,000 people a year, according to a 2016 report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (1). As noted by the military trauma surgeons who informed that report, the answer to this problem is not necessarily more blood collection, but rather better access to and storage of blood, and, ultimately, production of shelf-stable blood components. To save the lives of patients in dire need of blood, hospitals and emergency responders don’t necessarily need more blood collection. They need better access to and storage of blood, and, ultimately, production of shelf-stable blood components. Image credit: Shutterstock/Ben Carlson. After decades of failed trials to create artificial blood, researchers may finally be starting to meet that challenge. Several are looking to create products that serve as a complement to blood—a sufficient substitute to keep hemorrhaging patients alive until they have access to the real thing. Some researchers are developing freeze-dried versions of blood components; others are looking to create artificial particles that offer replacement components. Hemorrhaging patients rarely receive whole blood; instead, they receive reconstituted blood components. Donated whole blood is broken down into its parts: Red cells carry oxygen, platelets are responsible for clotting, and plasma is the liquid component that plays a role in coagulation. Breaking down blood into parts allows some of those components to be stored longer. Plasma, for …