Rapid thawing of fresh-frozen plasma with radio wave-based thawing technology and effects on coagulation factors during prolonged storage at 4 degrees C.

Background And Objectives: With traditional techniques the thawing time for fresh-frozen plasma (FFP) is about 20-30 min. A new technology using radio waves, radio wave thawing device (RTD), was applied for thawing FFP. With this technology the thawing time can substantially be reduced. The new technique was compared to an established method using Heated Air Technology (HAT). Variables subjected to assessment were temperature after thawing and analysis of factor V (FV), factor VIII (FVIII), protein S.

Materials And Methods: Plasma was collected from 20 plasma donors. Each donation was aliquoted into two equal units of approximately 250 ml. The plasma units were frozen and stored below -75 degrees C. The thawing time was pre-set to two time periods, one for each group, 23 min for HAT and 7.5 min for RTD. Thawed plasma was stored at 4 +/- 2 degrees C as liquid plasma. Samples were collected before freezing, after thawing, 1 week and 2 weeks after thawing.

Results: The FV and FVIII levels were over 90% direct after thawing compared to before freezing values in both groups. At 2 weeks of storage the levels of FV and FVIII were approximately 70% and 50%, respectively, compared to before freezing values. Protein S levels decreased slightly during storage. No significant differences in the decline of quality were observed between the two groups.

Conclusion: The new radio wave technology for thawing of FFP has a significant reduction of thawing time. The impact of thawing and storage on FV, FVIII, protein S does not significantly differ between HAT and RTD.