Posted February 9, 20187 yr comment_72467 I am looking to purchase a new plasma thawer. I have the Helmer DH4 water bath. I read your reviews on the microwave and it will not be a good fit for us, because we do not thaw enough plasma to warrant having a water bath and microwave. I read Aunte D's post that you use the Sahara III and I am intrigued. I looked it up online, but it doesn't give much info such as maintenance, limitations to products like the microwave has. I would be most grateful if you could elaborate on your thoughts on this plasma thawer and some of the problems you have run into with its use. I didn't see that it was FDA approved?? Does anyone use the Cytotherm if yes same questions as above. I appreciate your help
April 26, 20196 yr Author comment_76609 Plasmatherm II- is that what you are referring to? I am curious about it as well On 1/31/2019 at 6:40 AM, RKB1988 said: Anyone using a rapid plasma thawer?
April 28, 20196 yr comment_76611 I have used the Sarstedt SAHARA III for many years and they are very good, with regards to limitations I am not aware of any as such, they use dry heat to thaw the plasma and I don't ever remember one breaking down in the 3 different labs I have used them in. Maintenance is limited to wiping down the unit every week and cleaning out when you get a burst bag but they have a tray in the bottom to catch any leakage, I would take one any day over any water bath options. My current lab has an Helmer, I find it very slow compared to the SAHARA.
April 29, 20196 yr comment_76625 We use the Helmer D4 and have had it for years - it doesn't have speck of rust anywhere. We only fill it with distilled water and use the Helmer CleanBath Would the dry heat thawers work well for Plasma exchange transfusions? The 4 well waterbath we have is not going to get through 16 units very fast.
April 30, 20196 yr comment_76626 11 hours ago, cswickard said: We use the Helmer D4 and have had it for years - it doesn't have speck of rust anywhere. We only fill it with distilled water and use the Helmer CleanBath Would the dry heat thawers work well for Plasma exchange transfusions? The 4 well waterbath we have is not going to get through 16 units very fast. When we did plasma exchange and had a single SAHARA we used to have to start thawing overnight to get it ready in advance, they claim 6 bag capacity but in reality I found it was hard to fit 6 in. One site I worked at that was a major trauma center and did heart and lung transplants and ECMO had 2 for this reason.
April 30, 20196 yr comment_76630 We have Helmer D8s and recently installed 2 Sahara III - Sahara has little to no maintenance, easy to use - but VERY SLOW (24-35 minutes for 2 units) compared to thawing 8 units in Helmer (16 -20 minutes for E2555 products). Great if you are thawing a couple of units for routine transfusion - not useful in hemorrhage/trauma situations.
May 3, 20196 yr comment_76737 I've used the cytotherms and the D4. I think the cytotherms are a lot of work to keep up, especially if you keep them full. I've had the D4 for at least 8 yrs - no rust but I keep it empty. reasonably fast (16-20 minutes for 4u). I can go for months without thawing a plasma.
May 8, 20196 yr comment_76785 My Helmer D8 has a lot calcium deposits, which I thought was rust. I use distilled water and Cleanbath. Any ideas how I can stop this from happening? I am on my 3rd order of new baskets.
October 15, 20204 yr comment_81082 We have the same issue with the calcium deposits. We have less than what you show in your picture and we use regular tap water. I seem to recall reading somewhere that the dissolved minerals in tap water help prevent the calcium buildup. If I find some information I will post here, I wish Helmer used the same material for the baskets as they do for the chamber as it is still quite pristine after many years of use.
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