Fresh Frozen Plasma Storage
Correct fresh frozen plasma storage is vital for safe and efficient treatment of patients with blood clotting disorders in various situations.
This article will explore fresh frozen plasma preparation, storage and uses and discuss the Froilabo products that can aid your fresh frozen plasma storage.
Fresh Frozen Plasma Preparation
Plasma is the liquid portion of whole blood. It contains many important components such as water, minerals, clotting factors, proteins, electrolytes, and anticoagulants.
Fresh frozen plasma is prepared by separating whole blood and extracting the liquid portion (plasma). This can be carried out in two ways:
- Centrifugation – previously tested whole blood is placed in a centrifuge to separate the plasma from the rest of the blood.
- Plasmapheresis – blood is extracted from a donor, plasma is then removed and the rest of the blood is returned to the donor.
Fresh Frozen Plasma Uses
Fresh frozen plasma has several uses. It can be used to treat patients with a blood clotting condition who are bleeding or at risk of bleeding and unable to receive the isolated coagulation factor, or another plasma component concentrate they need before planned surgery. Other fresh frozen plasma uses include:
- Treating multiple factory deficiency (caused by liver disease)
- Treating antithrombin (III) deficiency
- Plasma exchange in patients with Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (TTP)
- Emergency reversal of warfarin in patients with bleeding or if they need surgery (if vitamin K treatment is unavailable or would take too long)
Fresh frozen plasma should not be used for the replacement of blood volume.
Fresh Frozen Plasma Storage
Once the plasma has been collected it must be frozen within 8 hours. To ensure the quality and the efficacy of the plasma, it must be frozen rapidly to very low temperatures. For up to one year, the fresh frozen plasma storage temperature should be below -30 °C. If kept in an ultra-low temperature freezer with a storage temperature below -60 °C, the plasma can last for up to seven years.
When the fresh frozen plasma is ready to be used, thawing should take around 1 hour. The plasma must be refrigerated at a temperature of 4 °C and used within 24 hours.
Fresh Frozen Plasma Preparation and Storage Solutions from Froilabo
Froilabo’s Blast Freezer can be used to facilitate the rapid freezing of plasma for medium-long term storage. For more information about how efficient our blast freezer is at freezing plasma bags, please read our Application Note: Freezing Kinetics of Plasma Bag.
Our range of Evolution Ultra Low Temperature Freezers provide the ideal conditions for fresh frozen plasma storage. The range includes freezers that can reach -86 °C, allowing you to keep fresh frozen plasma for several years without compromising the integrity of the plasma components. For medium-term storage, we also offer a low temperature freezer that reaches -45 °C.
Froilabo’s Evolution range offers 3 different freezer sizes with optional drawers, baskets and racking to maximise the space of your freezer for your needs. Evolution freezers actively monitor samples, with differentiated alarms and visual cues to inform you how your freezer is running, and any errors can be spotted and resolved quickly.
To ensure the safety of your freezers content, our freezers come with a lock and optional additional security measures.
Our freezers also have ‘Eco-mode’ with efficient energy consumption and other environmentally friendly options that will not only be kinder to the planet, but also save your lab money.
If you’d like to find out more about how Froilabo’s products can be used in your laboratory facilities, contact our sales team to find out more.
Related Reading
Download our Application note: Kinetics of Plasma Freezing Bags to learn more about how Froilabo’s Blast Freezer can be used to efficiently freeze bags of plasma.
Other reading related to the medical and pharmaceutical industry:
Ultra-Low Temperature (ULT) Pharmaceutical Freezers
How Blast Freezing can Improve your Pharmaceutical Laboratory
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