Colleen

Richard, Regarding the new version of the HemaTrax print server, does it have all the product codes available from ICCBBA? The current version we have (2.2) does not. Also, have you heard if anyone is having problems with FDA approving the labels out of HemaTrax? Thanks. Colleen

You also need to look at the manufacturer's volume/concentration limits on the bags. Amicus (Baxter/Fenwal) Product Specifications: No more than 4.7 x 1011 platelets with a minimum plasma volume of 193 mL/bag can be stored in a single PL2410 bag, in order to maintain a pH above 6.2 for the life of the component. COBE or Trima(Gambro) Product Specifications: No more than 1.0-2.1 x 106/µL platelets concentration and a platelet yield of 5.1 x 1011 platelets in a product volume of 100-400 mL per bag in order to maintain a pH above 6.2 for the life of the component. If you exceed these, then you have a 24 hr outdate because there isn't sufficient plasma to maintain the required pH. Colleen

We have a bank of 3 walk-in refrigerators and 3 walk-in freezers (we're a blood center). The refrigerators are on one side of a walk way and the freezers are on the other. The hallway is refrigerated, and the doors are set up so only one opens at a time. This cuts down on the freezer frost alot. We got the idea from a Red Cross center in Southern CA. They're Jamison Mark IV units.

If we collect low volume autos, we make packed cells from the unit. Then we place a Red Blood Cells, Low Volume label on it. The label indicates the red cell volume, plus the volume of whole blood it was collected from (e.g. 180 mL from 350 mL whole blood). We don't put any additional information on the label.

I'm at a blood center and we currently pool 8 units of cryo. This is totally based on the pooling bag we have, not on any standard dose.

We only do ours annually and after major repairs.

One of our customers has indicated that they order autologous cryoprecipitate for use as "fibrin glue" because it works better than allogeneic. Has anyone else had this experience? Or is anyone aware of any studies that may have been published on the topic?

Bonni, You may want to email Pat Distler, currently at our blood center. She has accepted a position with ICCBA and is very knowledgeable with ISBT requirements and time frames. Her email address is distlepa@bbsbrc.org. Colleen Mason

With our process, we harvest the single cryo units from frozen plasma units, pool 8 of them, then refreeze the pool within 1 hour of harvesting. So they are pooled prior to freezing. If we thaw single cryo units, then pool them, we do not refreeze the pool.

Cliff, At the Blood Bank of San Bernardino we pool 8 units of cryo and refreeze the pools. For QC, at the time of pooling, we aliquot off a single cryo equivalent (approximately 20 mL) from 4 units. The aliquots are refrozen and shipped to the ARC for Factor VIII and fibrinogen testing. We also ship 4 single units. The remainder of the QC'd pools are labeled to indicate the potency of 7 cryo units but with 8 donor exposures. Our pools are FDA licensed. Colleen