Clinical Outcomes and Red Blood Cell Storage

Transfusions remain a cornerstone of medical therapy in the critically ill patient, with at least 30% of patients in the ICU receiving one or more red blood cell transfusions (Shehata et al. Transfusion 54:2631-9, 2014; Vincent, JAMA 288:1499-507, 2002; Corwin, Crit Care Med 32:39-52, 2004). Our understanding of the biochemical, structural, and functional changes that occurs to red blood cells with storage – also known as the storage lesion – …