Suitable survival and half‐life of red cells after frozen storage in excess of 10 years

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Abstract
To examine the appropriateness of the Food and Drug Administration's 10‐year storage time for previously frozen red cells, 24‐hour posttransfusion survival studies were performed, and the half‐life of 3 units of autologous red cells that had been stored for 13.5, 14, and 17 years, respectively, was measured. The units had acceptable freeze‐thaw‐ wash recovery (83.3–91.4%). When a 51Cr label was used for the previously frozen red cells and a simultaneous 52Cr label for freshly drawn autologous red cells was used as a comparison, it was seen that the previously frozen cells had normal 24‐hour posttransfusion survival (75.1–88.4%) as well as normal half‐life (23–33.7 days). These findings support further extension of the maximum allowable storage time for previously frozen red cells.