Effect of whole blood storage on factor VIII recovery in fresh frozen plasma and cryoprecipitate

Depending on logistics, whole blood has to be stored for several hours after collection. If storage time exceeds 8 h, storage has to be at 1-6 degrees C to comply with FDA regulations. In the Netherlands, however, whole blood is also stored for 12-15 h at 20-24 degrees C using butane-1,4-diol cooling devices. We compared these two storage methods for factor VIII recovery in plasma and cryoprecipitate. At laboratory scale a significantly higher factor VIII recovery was found in plasma prepared from whole blood stored at ambient temperature; in cryoprecipitate this was confirmed but differences were not significant. However, as a result of inefficient cooling in routine procedure, no significantly different factor VIII recoveries were found in plasma prepared from whole blood stored at either of the two temperatures. From our study we conclude that overnight storage of whole blood at ambient temperature using butane-1,4-diol cooling devices has to be favoured.