WASHINGTON, Oct 13, 2004 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Texas and North Carolina researchers say using whole, recently donated blood for certain infant open heart surgeries may do more harm than good.

Researchers from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical School, in a study published in this week's New England Journal of Medicine, studied 200 children under age 1 who required heart surgery using the heart-lung bypass machine, which adds oxygen to blood and maintains circulation while the heart is stopped for surgery.

Researchers compared two different blood products used to fill, or "prime" the equipment: whole blood donated within the previous 48 hours and "reconstituted" blood formed by combining red blood cells and plasma. Plasma can be stored up to a year and red cells for 42 days after donation.

The results showed that patients who got the whole blood did no better in terms of bleeding, transfusion requirements, after-surgery complications and mortality than patients who got the reconstituted blood.

In fact, infants who received the reconstituted blood had a shorter stay in the intensive care unit (70 hours versus 97 hours) and spent less time on respirator (36 hours versus 53 hours).

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