Addressing the question of the effect of RBC storage on clinical outcomes: the Red Cell Storage Duration Study (RECESS) (Section 7).

ABSTRACT: The question of whether storage of red blood cells (RBCs) alters their capacity to deliver oxygen and affects patient outcomes remains in a state of clinical equipoise. Studies of the changes which occur while RBCs are stored have led to several physiologically plausible hypotheses that these changes impair RBC function when the units are transfused. Although there is some evidence of this effect in vivo from animal model experiments, the results of several largely retrospective patient studies have not been consistent. Some studies have shown an association between worse clinical outcomes and transfusion of RBC which have been stored for longer periods of time, while others have found no effect. Three multicenter, randomized, controlled trials have been developed to address this important

SUBMITTER: Steiner ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2918709 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature