Oxygen consumption changes with stored blood infusions

Stored blood contains microaggregates, often implicated in the pathogenesis of post-traumatic pulmonary insufficiency. This study was an attempt to further elucidate the effect of autologous stored, filtered and non-filtered blood infusions and homologous stored and fresh blood infusions on pulmonary function and hemodynamics. Inconsistent changes in pulmonary hemodynamics and blood oxygenation were noted. The one significant finding was an increase in oxygen consumption, which occurred with unfiltered autologous or homologous blood but not with fresh or filtered blood. Since an increased oxygen consumption results in an oxygen demand which is difficult to meet in the face of multiple other injuries, it is conceivable that this observation implicates massive stored blood transfusion as a major contributing factor in the development of so-called irreversible shock.