In transfusion medicine, packed red blood cells (sometimes called stored packed red blood cells) are red blood cells (RBC, also called erythrocytes) that have been collected, processed, and stored in bags as blood product units available for blood transfusion purposes. The collection may be from a "whole blood" (WB) donation followed by component separation, or by RBC apheresis (sometimes called "double-red," due to the potential to donate two units' worth at once that way). The processing (often termed "manufacture," since the end result is deemed a biologic biopharmaceutical product) and the storage can occur at a collection center and/or a blood bank. RBCs are mixed with an anticoagulant and storage solution which provides nutrients and aims to preserve viability and functionality of the cells (limiting their so-called "storage lesion"), which are stored at refrigerated temperatures for up to 42 days (in the US), except for the rather unusual long-term storage in which case they can be frozen for up to 10 years. The cells are separated from the fluid portion of the blood after it is collected from a donor, or during the collection process in the case of apheresis. The product is then sometimes modified after collection to meet specific patient requirements.
The product is typically abbreviated RBC, pRBC, PRBC, and sometimes StRBC or even LRBC (the latter being to indicate those that have been leukoreduced, which is now true for the vast majority of RBC units). The name "Red Blood Cells" with initial capitals indicates a standardized blood product in the United States. Without capitalization, it is simply generic without specifying whether or not the cells comprise a blood product, patient blood, a etc. (with other generic terms for it being "erythrocyte" and "red cell").
RBCs are used to restore oxygen-carrying capacity to the blood of a patient that is suffering from an anemia due to trauma or other (perhaps chronic) medical problems, and are by far the most common blood component used in transfusion medicine. Historically they were transfused as part of whole blood, but in modern practice the RBCs and plasma components are transfused separately. The process of identifying a compatible blood product for transfusion is complicated, and giving incompatible RBCs to a patient can be fatal.
Read more about Packed Red Blood Cells: Compatibility Testing, Collection, Processing, and Use, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words packed, red, blood and/or cells:
“He packed a lot of things that she had made
Most mournfully away in an old chest
Of hers, and put some chopped-up cedar boughs
In with them, and tore down the slaughterhouse.”
—Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935)
“Hm, the beacon of the press. In the hell to which all journalists must descend when they die, Mr. Wiggam, we shall sit at red hot desks with quills of fire in our hand and spend eternity on eternity writing about the salubrious weather of that region. Let us serve our apprenticeship here thoroughly and intelligently.”
—Ben Hecht (1893–1964)
“But since Thy loud-tongu’d Blood demands Supplies,
More from BriareusHands, than Argus Eyes,
I’ll tune Thy Elegies to Trumpet-sounds,
And write Thy Epitaph in Blood and Wounds!”
—James Graham Marquess of Montrose (1612–1650)
“Madness is locked beneath. It goes into tissues, is swallowed by the cells. The cells go mad. Cancer is their flag. Cancer is the growth of madness denied.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)