title: Beneficial effect of brief pre-transfusion incubation of platelets at 37 degrees C.
abstract: The effects of brief warming of stored platelet concentrates were assessed in 15 children undergoing transfusion for stable thrombocytopenia due to chemotherapy (n = 13) or aplastic anaemia. Half of a pool of platelet concentrates stored at 22 degrees C was incubated at 37 degrees C for 1 hour and the other half at room temperature. Each patient received one bag of warmed and one of unwarmed cells transfused in random order 2 h apart. Platelet warming improved transfusion efficacy, as assessed on the basis of corrected platelet count increments (CCIs) and platelet morphology. Compared with unwarmed bags, warmed bags had a higher morphology score (p = 0.0001) and a higher CCI (adjusted for the transfusion order) at 1 h (n = 11; p = 0.014) and at 2 h (n = 15, p = 0.006) post transfusion. Thus, with platelets stored at room temperature bags warmed before transfusion to 37 degrees C for 1 h provide a larger number of circulating platelets after transfusion than do unwarmed bags.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee.
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Hutchinson
authors.forename: K D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Kunkel
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Schell
authors.forename: C W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: W C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Fischl
authors.forename: L B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Garcez
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Pui
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D007185:Incubators; D007223:Infant; D010976:Platelet Count; D017713:Platelet Transfusion; D011897:Random Allocation; D012494:Sampling Studies; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods; D013696:Temperature; D013921:Thrombocytopenia / Q000628:therapy; D013997:Time Factors