The long-term objectives of this research are to substantially improve the military frozen blood system with a number of specific devices and advances. A Dry Heat system is developed to permit very rapid thawing (under 10 minutes) instead of the 40 to 60 minutes now necessary using an inconvenient, large water bath. This heating system is also used to warm IV fluids in surgery. Rapid thawing is crucial to meeting the military needs for thawed deglycerolized blood in emergencies. A new blood bag with its protective shipping container is developed that will have less than 3% breakage, compared to current 20% to 50% breakage in military use. The current deglycerolization process is modified to decrease the duration of the process (to under 20 minutes) and to reduce processing fluid quantities. The proposed research will evaluate the feasibility of these various approaches by fabricating and testing hardware and disposables and modifying current red cell washing processes. Military frozen blood users and blood experts will aid in this evaluation. These improvements to the military frozen blood system will decrease substantially (at least a factor of 2) the time needed to make red cells available in emergencies. It also reduces blood wastage, increases ease of use, increases user productivity, decreases costs, and improves logistics, making frozen blood far more practical for military and commercial uses.
