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| Duke University's Jonathan Stamler says banked blood loses ability to deliver oxygen to tissues |
Blood transfusions with stored blood may do more harm than good. Recent studies show that patients who receive blood transfusions have higher incidences of heart attack, heart failure, stroke and even death.
Duke medical professor Jonathan Stamler says his team found that within hours of donation, banked blood begins to lose nitric oxide, a gas that is crucial for the delivery of oxygen to tissues. "Whereas we have tended to think that how much oxygen you carry is key, we've learned that it is really how much your blood vessels are open. ... Patients that are having heart attacks have blood vessels that are closed."
Stamler says there is little doubt that stored blood could be harmful and the problem must be corrected. He says the next step is to initiative large-scale clinical trials.
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