Modulation of fibrinogen content in cryoprecipitate by temperature manipulation during plasma processing

In routine blood bank production of single‐donation cryoprecipitate, the introduction of a 16‐hour hold at 4 degrees C, with the frozen plasma units packed into polystyrene containers, resulted in plasma prethaw temperatures of ‐4 degrees C to ‐8 degrees C. This in turn resulted in cryoprecipitate fibrinogen levels that were 214 percent of those obtained when units were thawed immediately after removal from ‐ 30 degrees C storage. In scale‐model production of factor VIII concentrate, plasma warmed from ‐30 to ‐10 to ‐15 degrees C over 18 hours before pooling and thawing yielded cryoprecipitate fibrinogen levels that were 66 percent of those found in plasma warmed to ‐2 to ‐5 degrees C over the same period. Processing ‐30 degrees C plasma without a warming period led to cryoprecipitate fibrinogen levels that were 40 percent of those obtained from plasma warmed to ‐2 to ‐5 degrees C. These differences were accentuated after purification of the cryoprecipitates to an intermediate‐purity factor VIII concentrate. These results suggest that simple modifications in production methods allow the fibrinogen content of cryoprecipitate to be tailored to specific uses. 1992 AABB