Studies on 4 C stored frozen-reconstituted red blood cells. III. Changes occurring in units which have been...

Units of frozen red blood cells were thawed, stored at 4 C for varying amounts of time up to five days, and then subsequently refrozen. This procedure was repeated for two or three cycles. Chemical and cytological studies showed that only a moderate number of red blood cells were lost and that the red blood cells would be transfusable with minimal danger to the patient. The units retained their sterility despite all of the manipulations. The ability to refreeze a unit of blood would extend the value of frozen blood greatly by preventing the loss of very rare units.