ABSTRACT
Red b lood cells are m anufactured from a w hole b lood d o nation by the re m oval o f plasm a. M ost o f the w hite cells (approxim ately 90% ) and platelets re m ain w ith th e red b lood cell com p o n en t unless a platelet concentrate is m anufac tu red from the b lood donation . After rem oval o f the plasm a, the red cells are u su ally suspended in an additive solu tion , w hich is a crystalloid solution allowing for storage for up to 42 days at refrigerator tem peratures o f 1-6°C. T he mass o f red cells in a red cell concentrate varies betw een 150-250 mis, b u t on average is about 200 mis. This p ro d u c t also contains the additive solution, w hich has a fixed vol um e o f 100 mis, and a sm all am o u n t o f “carry over plasm a” (25-50 m is), such th a t the actual volum e o f the red cell concentrate is betw een 280-400 mis. The h em at ocrit is 50-60. These characteristics are show n in Table 27.1.
