Red cell storage lesion and the effect of buffy-coat reduction on the biochemical parameters.

Background: Biochemical and metabolic changes in stored RBC may influence the clinical outcome. We aimed to study the temporal changes in the biochemical parameters and the effect of buffy-coat reduction on RBC storage lesions.

Materials And Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted on fifteen RBC units five each of buffy coat reduced CPD/SAGM (quadruple bags), non-buffycoat reduced CPD/SAGM (triple bags) and non-buffycoat reduced CPDA (double bags). Biochemical parameters such as K, LDH, pH plasma hemoglobin and percentage hemolysis were measured sequentially on day 7,14, 21, 28, 35 and 42. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 20.

Results: Extracellular K and LDH increased rapidly starting from the first week of storage. And the all the parameters including percentage hemolysis were significantly higher in RBC stored in CPDA (double bags) compared to that stored in SAGM (triple and quadruple). The difference observed in buffy-coat reduced units in comparison to the non-leukocyte reduced units were statistically not significant.

Conclusion: The quality of red cells stored in SAGM was superior to that suspended in CPDA measured in terms of percent hemolysis, plasma hemoglobin, potassium and LDH. There was no effect of buffy-coat leukocyte reduction on the red cell storage lesion.