A BLOOD COMPONENT STORAGE CONTAINER AND METHOD UTILIZING A POLYVINYL CHLORIDE PLASTIC FORMULATION FREE OR ESSENTIALLY FREE OF LEACHABLE MATERIALS

摘要

A method of storing blood components uses a blood component storage container which is made of a plasticized polyvinyl chloride formulation which includes a heat stabilizer system selected from the group consisting of salts of C10 to C26 saturated fatty acids present in an amount of less than about one percent by weight of the composition. Surprisingly, use of only minimal amounts of these higher molecular weight fatty acids results in an effectively heat stabilized product suited for mass production techniques. As a result, the total amount of the heat stabilizer which can possibly leach into blood plasma is significantly reduced. The material from which the container is made preferably includes an effective amount of a plasticizer which is also essentially nonextractable in blood plasma.