Prolonged Platelet Storage – A Solution to the Increased Demand?

Platelets are small, anuclear blood cells derived from megakaryocytes in the bone marrow. Their role is to stop bleeding (haemostasis) during haemorrhage and are also used as part of cancer treatment. Hence, the importance and demand for platelet concentrates (PCs) should never be underestimated. The short shelf-life of PCs poses a problem in terms of availability and a costly waste of resources, equipment, and time management. Increasing the shelf-life from the current 5-day storage period to 7 days is one way of managing this problem. A 7-day storage shelf-life is already implemented by various Blood Banks worldwide. However, many Blood Establishments still struggle with their decision to prolong the shelf-life of this product. This review highlights some important factors which should be considered for introducing a longer storage shelf-life.