Whole blood

Whole blood has similar risks to a transfusion of red blood cells and is typically cross-matched to avoid hemolytic transfusion reactions. The use of whole blood is common in low- and middle-income countries. Over 40% of blood collected in low-income countries is administered as whole blood, and approximately a third of all blood collected in middle-income countries is administered as whole blood. Practical guidance and a framework for reintroducution of whole blood transfusion in high-income countries have also been developed. Whole blood is sometimes "recreated" from stored red blood cells and fresh frozen plasma (FFP) for neonatal transfusions. This is done to provide a final product with a very specific hematocrit (percentage of red cells) with type O red cells and type AB plasma to minimize the chance of complications. Transfusion of whole blood is being used in the military setting and in the civilian setting, where it is being used in pre-hospital trauma care and in the setting of massive transfusion in the civilian setting. Whole blood can be ABO-type specific when the recipient blood type is known. When the recipient's blood group is not known, particularly in pre-hospital transfusion, low-titer O universal donor whole blood (LTOWB) can be used; this requires that the donor plasma contains only low titers of anti-A and anti-B. ==Processing==

Historically, blood was transfused as whole blood without further processing. Most blood banks now split the whole blood into two or more components, The collected blood is generally separated into components by one of three methods. A centrifuge can be used in a "hard spin" which separates whole blood into plasma and red cells or a "soft spin" which separates it into plasma, buffy coat (used to make platelets), and red blood cells. The third method is sedimentation: the blood simply sits overnight, and the red cells and plasma are separated by gravitational interactions, which is used predominantly in low-income countries. ==Storage==

Whole blood is typically stored under the same conditions as red blood cells and can be kept up to 35 days if collected with citrate-phosphate-dextrose-adenine-1 (CPDA-1) anticoagulant solution, or 21 days with other common anticoagulants such as citrate-phosphate-dextrose (CPD). If the whole blood is used to make platelets, it is kept at room temperature until the process is complete. Whole blood processing must be completed within 24 hours to minimize the warm storage of red cells in the unit. == References == == External links ==