The Use of Packed Red Blood Cells-Reply

Abstract

In Reply.— I would like to thank Dr Barrett for his comment. It is unreasonable to remove plasma from all blood when drawn, send that plasma for fractionation, recover only part of it as albumin and plasma protein fraction, and then use the latter products in the hospital with packed cells because whole blood is not available for those patients who need RBC and volume expansion. The current national need for plasma products cannot be met with the plasma removed from whole blood, but must be supplemented by plasmapheresis. The statement of O'Connor and Staples that washed cells can be resuspended in plasma protein fraction if an increase in blood volume is needed is directly to the point. While true, it represents an inefficient and expensive practice. Although washed cells will reduce the incidence of transfusion reactions, it is difficult to justify the use of washed cells routinely for this