# Medical Types - What are 'Compacted Reds'?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-types-what-are-compacted-reds/97395>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 7, 2001, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-types-what-are-compacted-reds/97395 "2001-12-07T06:11:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-types-what-are-compacted-reds/97395/1 "2001-12-07T06:11:46Z")

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since I received 4 units of the stuff a few years back, I’ve been curious…

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**Author:** ![KevinL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/91b2a8/32.png) [@KevinL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KevinL)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-types-what-are-compacted-reds/97395/2 "2001-12-07T06:26:22Z")

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Sounds like packed red blood cells - i.e. just red blood cells (erythrocytes) rather than whole blood (red cells + plasma).