Oxygen Red Cell Affinity Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Oxygen Red Cell Affinity study: Measuring oxygen unloading time from red blood cells in critical-illness
IRAS ID
363741
Contact name
Samiran Ray
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 0 days
Research summary
Red blood cells are responsible for carrying oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. We have long believed that three things determine how well this happens: how much haemoglobin (the oxygen-carrying protein in red blood cells) is in the blood, how much oxygen the haemoglobin is carrying, and how well the heart is pumping blood.
The lack of oxygen can lead to poor outcomes. However, in severely ill patients in intensive care units, simply giving more oxygen, increasing haemoglobin through blood transfusions or using drugs to make the heart pump harder doesn't always help the body get the oxygen it needs. This has been shown in clinical trials.
Recent research suggests that how quickly red blood cells release oxygen may play a key role in whether the body actually gets the oxygen it needs. We have only recently been able to measure this. We have found out that the chemical makeup of red blood cells determines how tightly haemoglobin holds onto oxygen, as well as the shape of the red blood cells through which the oxygen has to travel: both affect how quickly red blood cells release oxygen.
Chemical changes occur when blood is stored in a blood bank. They also happen during severe illness. Whilst we have studied how quickly red blood cells release oxygen using stored blood, no one has studied this in children with severe illness. In this study, we are aiming to test this in 4 groups of children admitted to the intensive care unit whose red blood cells we expect to release oxygen slowly, and fifth group for comparison. The study will tell us whether this is worth studying in more detail, to improve treatments for patients when they are severely unwell.
REC name
London - City & East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/LO/0899
Date of REC Opinion
4 Dec 2025
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion