Public index · Biology
Red-cell storage
42 days
Recorded
Licensed refrigerated storage of packed red blood cells
Packed red cells are often stored up to about 42 days under standard refrigeration. Jurisdiction and additive decide the licence. It is a protocol, not a law of blood.
What it supports
A regulatory shelf life in current transfusion practice. FDA and AABB families (AS-1, AS-3, AS-7) commonly print 42 days at 1–6 °C. Some systems keep 35. CPDA-1 extended storage toward 42 in 1979.
What it does not
Not a mystical 42-day life cycle. Not a sealed cosmic blood clock. Survival of the unit is not survival of a meaning.
ExactnessRange / bound
Form42 as duration
Unitdays
Strengthattested