Searching for safer red blood cell bags for pediatric recipients

What is this research about?

Over 50 years ago, plastic replaced glass as the container of choice for collection and storage of blood and blood products. This greatly improved the safety of blood for transfusion by reducing the risk of contamination and containers breaking. Polyvinylchloride, better known as PVC, is the most popular plastic for blood bags because it is durable, strong and can resist temperature changes. However, PVC is inflexible and brittle. To make flexible bags suitable for blood storage, PVC must be combined with a chemical called a “plasticizer”, which softens the plastic.

Published on