BLOOD RADIATION INDICATOR

About 10% of donated fresh blood is radiated. Blood is radiated because a donor’s white blood cells can attack a recipient's tissues if the recipient's immune system is too weak. Radiation breaks the DNA of T-cells so they cannot divide or mount an immune attack. This process prevents fatal Transfusion-Associated Graft-Versus-Host Disease (TA-GVHD) in immune-compromised patients while leaving red blood cells mainly unaffected. Radiated blood is required for bone marrow transplant recipients, patients with certain blood cancers and immune-compromised patients. Blood irradiation exposes donated blood products to a standard dose of about 25 Gray (Gy) of ionizing radiation to stop donor T-lymphocytes from reproducing. 25Gy of X-ray kills 99.9995% of white blood cells. Color developing radiation indicators are used for monitoring the radiation dose.

Globally about 110 million units of blood is collected every year. Globally, about 10-15% of blood is radiated. In the U.S., ~20% of all transfused whole blood and red blood cell (RBC) units are irradiated (amounting to roughly 2 million annually).

Commercially available blood radiation indicators (i) require shipping and storage between 4 to minus 20 oC, (ii) they are very sensitive to UV/sunlight, (iii) the maximum operating temperature is only about 50 oC (temperature in summer can go as high as 70oC in trucks and warehouses) and (iii) one of them is a go/no-go type indicator, i.e., it indicates blood is radiated, i.e., it is not a dosimeter.

The BRI (blood radiation indicator) of JP Labs develops blue color and the color intensifies with dose. It indicates if blood is over or under radiated. The shelf-life of the JP Labs’ BRI is a couple of years at RT, there is no effect of ambient light, essentially no effect of sunlight for a day and the maximum operating temperature is 90 oC. Because of the long shelf life and no effect of ambient light, JP Labs’ BRI can be even pre-applied on the blood bags.