Control of large-scale plasma thawing for recovery of cryoprecipitate factor VIII.

Cryoprecipitation is commonly used as the primary step in the preparation of clinical factor VIII concentrates; yet recovery is usually very low. Much of this loss is due to poor temperature control and a process of continuous plasma thawing has been designed to overcome this. A substantial improvement has resulted, with an increase in both yield and purity of factor VIII:C of over 50% in comparison to a conventional batch thaw process.