Researchers who tested the use of refrigerated platelets say their results could more than triple the supply available to help save bleeding patients.Platelets are a blood component that’s crucial for clotting and stemming blood loss. Donated platelets are conventionally stored at room temperature with a five-to-seven-day shelf life.At 27 hospitals in the U.S. and Australia, 1,000 children and adults undergoing cardiac surgery received either room-temperature platelets stored for less than seven days or chilled platelets.Platelets refrigerated for up to three weeks were just as effective at treating bleeding as the room-temperature platelets, the researchers reported in JAMA.A significant proportion of the 2.5 million room-temperature platelet units collected each year in the U.S. are wasted due to the short shelf life, the researchers noted.The new findings "will dramatically improve the availability of platelets while also reducing waste, allowing hospitals that aren’t in major cities to afford to keep this life-saving blood product on hand for bleeding patients,” study leader Dr. Philip Spinella of the University of Pittsburgh said in a statement.Presently, rural and community hospitals for the most part cannot justify keeping room-temperature platelets in stock because they don’t often treat severely bleeding patients, his team noted.The researchers said their results are already under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and by regulators in other countries.
