Limitations of Available Blood Products for Massive Transfusion During Mass Casualty Events at US Level 1 Trauma Centers

The authors used a computerized model to understand how prepared U.S. trauma centers’ blood banks are to respond to mass casualty incidents (MCIs). They conducted 9,000 simulations for each of 16 U.S. level 1 trauma centers. They note that non-traditional blood products with longer shelf lives (e.g., freeze dried plasma, cryopreserved red blood cells, recent advances in platelet storage techniques) may improve trauma centers’ ability to meet these needs for future MCIs.