Optimizing Blood Component Handling Systems

Current technology generally requires over 20 minutes to thaw/warm blood products to transfusion temperature, over 2 hours to completely freeze them, and reduces levels of clotting proteins in plasma. Current plasma bags are susceptible to low temperature fracture and frequently engender plasma/liquid warming medium contamination. Plastic bag over-wraps mitigate contamination dangers, but extend the thaw/warming time. These problems cause plasma waste due to thawing in advance of anticipated usage. Preliminary data suggest that enhancing freeze/thaw processes by reconfiguring standard blood products bags to optimize the volume/surface area ratio can lead to improved clotting protein levels. These enhancements can be obtained while utilizing a dry thawing medium which eliminates contamination and are fast enough to allow thawing only for immediate demand. Constructing reconfigured bags from a laminated film appears to alleviate breakage problems. First, we will develop design data for a dry freezing device incorporated into the reconfigured dry thawing device. Second, an appropriately approved film will replace PVC in a reconfigured bag. Third, validate the preliminary results utilizing reconfigured, replacement film bags. Finally, investigate factors such as time, temperature and processing speed surrounding clotting protein recovery and utilize them to optimize both device and bag performance for commercial development.