Rapid Freezing and Thawing of Whole Blood

Abstract
The necessary extreme rates of heat transfer were obtained with whole blood by spraying it through a plastic capillary onto the surface of liquid N. Reconstitution is achieved by sprinkling the frozen pellets into warm saline or plasma. Heparinized whole blood so treated suffers 15-20% hemolysis. Addition of dextrose, designed to reduce crystallization velocities and thus reduce crystal size, enables a recovery of 98% of the erythrocytes. Preliminary human transfusions of Cr51 tagged red cells show that erythrocytes can survive normally in the circulation after rapid freezing and thawing. Storage at -60[degree]C causes a slow increase in hemolysis on thawing. Storage in liquid N is. expected to be virtually indefinite.
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