2009, Number 3
Proposal of a «cold box» model for the transportation of packs of red cells: Pilot study
Gutiérrez-Salinas J, Suástegui-Domínguez S, García-Méndez S, Rivera-Badillo ME
Full text
Language: Spanish
References: 6
Page: 168-176
PDF size: 61.62 Kb.
ABSTRACT
Background: The official norms in force indicate that the transportation of globular packages should be done in optimum conditions of temperature to preserve them. But it is not clear which can be the types of tenants that should be utilized. Objective: To design a tenant called «cold box» of easy acquisition and elaboration that comply with the minimums requisite of quality and security for the transportation of globular packages. Material and methods: An expanded-polystyrene (Unicel) box that uses bottles with frozen water as chill system and disposable diapers was elected like model of «cold box». The globular packages were placed in this box and the internal temperatures for 25 h was registered. To the end of this time, a sample of the globular packages was taken to determine the concentration of free hemoglobin. As control group the temperature and free hemoglobin were determined from globular packages that arrived at our institution in diverse types of tenants. Results: The average of the final temperature in the «cold box» was statistically smaller in regard to the temperature that presented the control group (7.05 ± 0.32 °C vs 9.0 ± 2.16 °C, p ‹0.05; respectively). Besides, the average of free hemoglobin determined in the globular packages of the «cold box» is smaller to that of the control (1.54 ± 0.11 g/dL vs 2.7 ± 0.31, p ‹0.01; respectively). Conclusions: Ours model of «cold box» seems to be a cheap option that complies with the official norms for the transfer insurance of globular packages destined for blood transfusion.REFERENCES