Researchers studied 35 volunteers who donated one unit of blood four weeks and another three weeks before two study days separated by one week. On study days, two units of blood were withdrawn while maintaining isovolemia, followed by transfusion with the volunteer’s fresh red blood cells removed two hours earlier, or their stored red blood cells.
The following week, each volunteer was studied again, transfused with the red blood cells of the other storage duration. The resulting data do not support researchers’’ initial hypothesis that the transfusion of red blood cells stored for more than 21 days is detrimental to the patient compared to a red blood cell transfusion.
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