Hi all,

Is anyone using a method of thawing Plasma products other than the 37 degree water bath?

Anyone thawing at a higher temp?

Anyone Microwaving?

What is the FASTEST thaw out there..

I ask because the doctors are not impressed with our thawing practice (2 units at a time that can take up to 30 minutes in a 37 H20 bath). They have even said, if we can find something better they would pay for it...

Let me know all your various methods,

and thanks,

Hi Chris,

We had a microwave, it was fast, but every now and then one would break. The mess looked like scrambled eggs, but it didn't smell nearly as nice.

Have you considered 5 day plasma? Depending on your need and inventory you could have thawed products available all the time. That's what we are doing now.

Hi Chris,

We had a microwave,

Hi Cliff,

What was the manufacture of the Plasma microwave,

in fact I'm having a hard time finding out the names of FDA approved vendors.

Thanks for all you help

Gotta love that Google. Here is one I found, I am sure there must be others.

http://www.plasmathaw.com/pages/1/index.htm

I realize this post is not recent, but I just purchased a microwave thawer from Tropitronics to thaw FFP. I need info on what to do for validation and QC . Does anyone know this?

I use a Helmer Plasma thawing bath - 2 units in 14 minutes.

Ditto on the Helmer.

Our supplier folds apheresis FFP/FP24 over, so they take a little longer, unless you unfold the bag & squish them half way through.

Linda F

We use a Thermogenesis thawer. They come with 2 or 4 slots. We get 2 units in about 12 minutes. The FFP goes in a neoprene pocket, so there is no contact with the bath water and if you break a bag, the mess is in the pocket. Pop a fresh, spare pocket in and keep on thawing - no bath cleaning as long as the pocket is intact.

I agree with David Saikin. My experience is 14 minutes is enough to thaw 8 units of FFPs in a 35C water bath.

Hope that helps.

CK Cheng, MSc, SBB(ASCP), CQA(ASQ)

Hong Kong

Mar 17, 2009

Same as A McCord; we use the Thermogenesis. Love it. 12-14 minute thaw time for 2 units.

We also have a Helmer water bath, which includes an audible alert letting you know when the cycle is complete.

It has greatly improved our turn-around-time for FFP requests.

We have been using an ARK BIO Plasma defroster (microwave) for almost a month. It thaws 2 units of frozen plasma in 5 minutes. We have thawed 48 units without breakage or any other problem.

So far, we're pretty impressed with it.

We have been using the ARK BIO Plasma Defroster (microwave) for almost a month. We've thawed 48 units of plasma without breakage or any other problem. Thaw time is 5 minutes. Prior to that we were using the Thermogenesis and average time was 13-15 minutes at 35C. So far we are pretty impressed with the microwave method.

Five day Plasma is the way to go.

At Thaw relabel as 5 day immediately. Thaw one or 2 each morning.

This Answers STAT need, it's ready to go in less than 5 minutes, to assign, tag and send, good for 5 days.

The key, rotate stock, is to remove the Assign and tags, immediately upon return to the BB. If they did not need it NOW, that bag can be given to the next patient. Do not hold the plasma for that patient, move it into available Inventory, since it is good for 5 days.

Also reduces wastage of thawed plasma.

Hi all,

Is anyone using a method of thawing Plasma products other than the 37 degree water bath?

Anyone thawing at a higher temp?

Anyone Microwaving?

What is the FASTEST thaw out there..

I ask because the doctors are not impressed with our thawing practice (2 units at a time that can take up to 30 minutes in a 37 H20 bath). They have even said, if we can find something better they would pay for it...

Let me know all your various methods,

and thanks,

Hi Chris,

The microwave plasma defroster available exclusively in the USA from Tropitronics, Inc. (www.plasmathaw.com) is the quickest way to thaw ffp with virtually no chance of contamination. Thawed ffp has been shown to be of excellent quality. If bag breakage is a problem, ffp's can be overwraped for safety-just like you might in a water bath.

Regards,

Jim

I've heard the Helmer Plasma thawer is very quick (1 bag in about 10 minutes, 2 bags in slightly longer).

good luck

Thad, What authority did you use to justify the immediate relabeling to 5 days. I am having difficulty trying to convince the Transfusion Med Director that it is ok and is less likely to cause a problem with having a product out of compliance in the fridge if an inspection were to occur.

The authority is the FDA. They have no problem with labeling to, what they consider, the lowest common denominator. She has heard this many times but has chosen not to listen. Maybe coming from another source will help but it doesn't make it any more credible.

Thanks for continuing the battle.