CLEVELAND, Mar 20, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Heart surgery patients who receive
older blood face a higher risk of complications and death, the New England
Journal of Medicine said Thursday
A Cleveland Clinic study said found that heart surgery patients who received
transfusions with blood that has been stored more than 14 days were more likely
to suffer from kidney failure, sepsis, prolonged intubation and in-hospital
death.
Dr. Colleen Gorman Koch, the study's lead author, said as many as half of all
heart surgery patients receive blood transfusions.
More than 14 million units of blood are transfused in the United States each
year and the median duration of blood storage is 15 days. The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration allows for blood to be stored up to 42 days before it must be
discarded, the Cleveland Clinic said in a release.
The study was published in the March 20 issue of the New England Journal of
Medicine.
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