Thawing times and hemostatic assessment of fresh frozen plasma thawed at 37°C and 45°C using water-bath methods

Abstract

Background: The Barkey Plasmatherm (BP; Barkey GmbH & Co. KG) can thaw plasma at 37°C and 45°C. No studies have assessed thawing times or hemostatic qualities of plasma thawed at 45°C with BP. This study assessed fresh frozen plasma (FFP) thawing times with use of BP at 37°C and 45°C and Thermogenesis ThermoLine (TT; Helmer Scientific) at 37°C and compared the hemostatic quality of LG-Octaplas (Octapharma) with use of BP at 37°C and 45°C with TT at 37°C.

Study design and methods: The thawing time of FFP (pairs or fours) was assessed using BP at 37°C and 45°C (not prewarmed and prewarmed) and TT at 37°C. Hemostasis was assessed in LG-Octaplas at 5 minutes, 24 hours, 48 hours, and 120 hours after thawing with use of the three methods.

Results: Thawing time for two units was 13.44 minutes using TT, the same as using BP at 37°C (12.94 min not prewarmed; 12.20 min prewarmed) or 45°C (12.38 min not prewarmed), but longer than using BP prewarmed to 45°C (11.31 min, p < 0.001). Thawing time for four units was 13.41 minutes using TT, shorter than using BP at 37°C (17.19 min not prewarmed, 18.47 min prewarmed; both p < 0.001) or 45°C (15.03 min not prewarmed, p = 0.012; 15.22 min prewarmed, p = 0.004). There was no reduction in hemostatic markers in LG-Octaplas with use of BP at 37°C or 45°C compared to TT.

Conclusion: BP is quicker than TT by 2 minutes when thawing two units of FFP if it is prewarmed to 45°C. BP is slower than TT by at least 2 minutes when thawing four units of FFP at 37^o C. There was no significant difference in the hemostatic qualities of plasma whether thawed at 37°C or 45°C.