[The infusion of packed red cells. Usual difficulties (author's transl)]

This infusion used instead of whole blood has become increasingly common. However in our, as in other french institutions, the volume and the hematocrit of blood contained in each unit varies often notably. In addition, because of their high viscosity packed erythrocytes cannot be transfused rapidly enough. For transfusion in emergency situations and transfusion in operating room, following suggestions could be made to blood banks: --each unit should provide information on its content (volume and hematocrit or hemoglobin content); --units with low blood content should be transfused outside the operating room, whereas units containing high volumes should be reserved for peroperative transfusion in order to reduce charge of manipulation; --packed erythrocytes units should be prepared in order to allow same transfusion rates as whole blood (i.e. an average of 100 ml per minute for one transfusion line); --packed erythrocytes units should contain about 80 ml of plasma for an average total concentrate volume of 260 ml in order to provide enough antibacterial defense components; --units of fresh whole blood should be provided when approximately 150 p. cent of recipient's blood volume has been replaced in order to maintain the critical platelet level.