Blood may have shorter shelf life than previously believed

A new study shows that blood has a shorter shelf life than we originally thought.

Counsel Heal has shared with us that the study published in the International Anesthesia Research Society’s journal had called upon sixteen members to participate and have published the results.

Using blood that was on the shelf for three weeks has less effect on smaller capillaries.

The sixteen patients that were enrolled in the study were scheduled for a spinal fusion which is a surgery that usually requires a blood transfusion. The researchers measured flexibility levels of the red blood cells for those receiving the transfusions. The blood that had been sitting on the shelf for three weeks was less rigid which could make it challenging for blood to deliver oxygen to different parts of the patient’s body, reported MedicalXpress.

“There’s more and more information telling us that the shelf life of blood may not be six weeks, which is what the blood banks consider standard,” said Dr. Steven Frank, the study’s lead author, “If I were having surgery tomorrow, I’d want the freshest blood they could find.”