Technological first allows patients to freeze their own blood

New equipment that will make it possible to freeze blood can be a hail Mary for those who have a rare blood type, who could come to need blood.

Before this equipment was available, patients with rare blood types would have to wait in order to receive blood from European donors abroad, explained health minister Chris Fearne.

The machine works by removing water from blood cells and replacing it with glycerol, the chemical backbone for fats. This makes it possible to freeze the blood at a temperature of -80°C. The process is then reversed when the blood needs to be used.

The €130,000 equipment was unveiled this morning at the blood processing laboratories next to St Luke’s Hospital by Health Minister Chris Fearne and National Blood Transfusion Services director Alex Aquilina.