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AMA Committee on Transfusion and Transplantation

JAMA. 1970;212(1):147.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Transfusion of red blood cells (also referred to as concentrated, packed, or enriched red blood cells) rather than whole blood, is generally the best and safest method of fulfilling a patient's need for increased oxygen-carrying capacity, whether that need results from chronic anemia or acute blood loss. A routine request for "blood" might well imply red blood cells rather than whole blood. The routine use of whole blood can no longer be justified.

Red blood cells are ordinarily prepared from whole blood simply by removal of most of the donor plasma (which can then be used in the preparation of other components), leaving the red blood cells suspended in a smaller volume of plasma and resulting in hematocrit values of from 60% to 80%. Red blood cells properly prepared in this way have the same shelf-life as does whole blood.

The advantages of red blood cell transfusions are:

1. 1. The
   

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