Newer blood will yield better results in heart surgery
March 22, 2008 by Kendra James, RN
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
So you have done everything on your checklist prior to your open heart surgery. Pre-op physical… check… labs… check… packed the bag… check… donated your blood… check- but this is where the question comes into play.
A new US study found that cardiac surgery patients who received blood transfusions of blood that had been stored for 2 weeks or less had lower rates of complications and death than those who received blood that was older.
Were you instructed on when to donate? Did the nurse or case manager that prepared you for surgery advise you that the fresher your blood the better?
Why would this be the case you ask? Older blood loses nitric oxide, an important agent in the delivery of oxygen to tissue cells. Another reason is that red blood cells become more rigid and sticky as they age, making it difficult for them to squeeze through narrow blood vessels and raising the risk of a clot.
