A study on the impact of blood large‐scale long‐distance airdrop on storage quality of suspended red blood cells

BACKGROUND: Blood airdrop is a rapid transfusion supply for humanitarian, disaster relief, and military needs. Yet, large-scale, long-distance blood airdrops has never been explored. METHODS: Twenty bags of suspended red blood cells were randomly divided into two groups. The control group RBCs were stored at (4 ± 2)°C in the storage refrigerator. The airdrop group was subjected to the procedures of airdrop that involved a 74 h transportation journey covering 8220 km. The storage-lesion including RBCs morphology, physiological and biochemical indicators were measured on days 5, 14, 28, and 35 from the day of blood collection. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the massive and distant airdrop procedures did not cause significant differences in physical, chemical and metabolic properties of RBCs during the storage period. However, the airdrop group RBCs possessed the less Glu consumption and LAC accumulation (p < .05) on the 14th and 28th day compared with the control group. By the end of the storage period, each of the Glu consumption and LAC accumulation between the two groups tended to be the same. At the end of the storage period (35th day), the average hemolysis rate of the airdrop group RBCs was 0.12%, and the highest value was 0.24%, both of which were not higher than those of the control group and met the blood quality standard requirement that the hemolysis rate should be less than 0.8%. CONCLUSIONS: The blood large-scale long-distance airdrop did not have a significant negative impact on the quality of suspended RBCs products.