Safety and efficacy of AS-1 red blood cell use in neonates

Many Regional Blood Centers are providing AS-1(Adsol preservative) red blood cells (RBCs) as a standard product because of the extended shelf life (42 days). The use of AS-1 RBCs is concerning in neonates because of high exposure to dextrose, adenine and mannitol. We conducted this study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of AS-1 RBC use in neonates. We assigned one unit of AS-1 RBCs to each infant for small volume transfusions (15 ml/kg) for the life of the unit (42 days). The study was conducted for one year. The infants under 1500 g were included in the study. We measured the pre- and post-transfusion hematocrit, post-transfusion serum sodium, potassium, glucose, bilirubin and blood pH. We compared the average number of transfusions per patient and average blood donor exposure per patient using AS-1 RBC to CPDA-1 packed red blood cells (PRBC) use, data available for prior year. We monitored the blood transfusion reactions during the study period. The hematocrit increased significantly from 30.1 +/- 4.6 pre-transfusion to 38.3 +/- 4.9 post-transfusion. The post-transfusion serum bilirubin, blood pH, serum potassium, sodium and glucose remained within the normal range. In spite of an increase in the number of average transfusions per patient with AS-1 RBC (6.67 +/- 5.1), the average donor exposure (1.8 +/- 1.1) remained less than two donors. There were not any transfusion reactions reported during the study. In conclusion, the use of AS-1 red blood cells is safe for small volume transfusions in neonates.