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han enter d form bypa aemo d pot tate itutio blood European Journal of Cardio-thoracic Su European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery Advance Access published December 12, 2011levels and shelf time. Afterwards, we evaluated the CPB and laboratory data from 69 patients with body weight <10 kg and the lactate levels in the priming of the bypass circuit. Results: The shelf time of blood units was 7.6 2.7 days (minimum 5, maximum 14 days) with lactate concentration of 12.6 2 mmol/l and potassium concentration of 16.2 4.7 mmol/l. In the priming after pre-washing, the lactate concentration was significantly lower than the standard priming (2.5 0.9 vs 4.5 20 mmol/l, p = 0.002). At the start of bypass, the lactate concentration after pre-washing was still lower (1.5 0.4 vs 1.9 0.9 mmol/l; p = 0.04), but at the end of bypass we detected a significant increase of lactate in the pre-washed group (1.5 0.4 vs 2.2 1.1 mmol/l, p = 0.01). There was no significant difference between the groups at the end of bypass (1.8 0.9 vs 2.2. 1.1 mmol/l, p = 0.17). Other clinical and patient data were not significantly different. Conclusions: Our retrospective audit shows that pre-washing of IRBCs is not associated with decreased lactate levels at the end of CPB compared with standard use of IRBCs, suggesting that the added value of pre-washing of IRBCs on minimisation of lactate levels during CPB remains doubtful