Effect of different pump mechanisms on transfusion of blood

Sometimes infusion pumps are used to deliver whole blood to patients. However, in doing so there is a potential for damage to red cells from mechanical stresses in the pump, resulting in haemolysis. In order to investigate the degree of haemolysis caused by different pumps and therefore their suitability for whole blood infusion, we compared the performances of commonly used volumetric pumps (AVI 400; IVAC 560; IVAC 631 and IMED 927) with different pumping mechanisms. Our results show that the maximum haemolysis (3.9 mg/100g) was caused by the IVAC 560 and the least (1.08 mg/100g) by the AVI 400.