This is a
FREE SERVICE to create a directory of
voluntary blood donors all across the world.
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- Who is eligible to give blood?
- Is it safe to give blood?
- How often can I donate blood?
- Where can I go to donate blood?
- What is plateletpheresis?
- Can a patient donate his or her own blood for use in
surgery?
- Why
would my doctor recommend a blood transfusion?
- Where
does the blood for my transfusion come from?
- Is
it safe to get a blood transfusion?
- What
are the risks associated with blood from volunteer donors,
beyond HIV?
- If
nearly all blood comes from volunteers, why is there a
charge?
- Will
there be blood substitutes available soon?
- Can
I donate my own blood for transfusion?
- Can
I use blood donated by my family and friends?
- How
is the risk of using blood from a volunteer allogeneic donor
decreased?
- Does
it cost more to have blood filtered to remove white
cells?
- Will
Leukocyte Reduction be beneficial to me if I am having
surgery and need a transfusion?
- What
are my blood transfusion options?
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Who is eligible to give blood? |
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To give blood, you must be healthy, at least 17 years old, and weigh at least
110 pounds. Persons who are older than 65 and in good health may usually donate
with the approval of the blood bank physician. |
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Is it safe to give blood? |
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It is not possible to contract HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, by
donating blood. Each needle used in the procedure is sterile and is disposed of
after a single use. |
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How often can I donate blood? |
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People in good health who weigh at least 110 pounds can donate a unit of blood
as often as every eight weeks. Some states may further limit the number and/or
frequency of donations in a 12-month period. |
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Where can I go to donate blood? |
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There are many places where donations can be made. Bloodmobiles travel to high
schools, colleges, churches, and other community organizations. People can also
donate at community blood centers and hospital-based donor centers. Many people
donate at blood drives at their workplace. |
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What is plateletpheresis? |
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Although most blood is donated as whole blood, it is also possible to donate
only a portion of blood using a technique called apheresis. Blood is drawn from
the vein of a donor into an apheresis instrument, which separates the blood into
different portions by centrifugation. By appropriately adjusting the instrument,
a selected portion of the blood, such as the platelets, can be recovered, while
the rest of the blood is returned to the donor either into the same vein or into
a vein in the other arm. This process takes more time than whole blood donation,
but the yield of platelets is much greater. Platelets collected by apheresis are
particularly useful for patients who require numerous platelet transfusions, for
example cancer patients who have received chemotherapy. |
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Can a patient donate his or her own blood for use in
surgery? |
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Yes. When blood transfusions are anticipated, such as upcoming elective surgery,
a person can donate blood for his or her own use. Autologous blood donation
refers to a process whereby the patient provides his or her own blood. There are
three types of autologous procedures available for a patient undergoing surgery.
Preoperative autologous donation, in which the patient donates his or her own
blood prior to the surgery, is the most common form of autologous transfusion.
Intraoperative and postoperative cell salvage are two other ways of saving blood
lost during or immediately after surgery for return to the donor/patient. |
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Why would my doctor recommend a blood
transfusion? |
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- You may require a transfusion to replace blood that is lost during
surgery or an accident.
- If you are receiving chemotherapy, your bone marrow may be
temporarily unable to make new blood cells.
- Anemia is the result of many illnesses, and the symptoms from anemia
may make a transfusion necessary.
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Where does the blood for my transfusion come
from? |
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Nearly all blood donations in the United States and other developed
nations are from volunteer donors who give their blood through a network
of nonprofit community blood centers and hospital blood banks. Donors are
eligible to give whole blood five times a year and can donate some blood
components, such as platelets,
more frequently. |
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Is it safe to get a blood
transfusion? |
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All medical therapy involves some degree of risk. Most patients and
their families are concerned about the risk of contracting disease
(hepatitis, AIDS, bacterial infection) through a transfusion. The safety
of the blood supply is a shared responsibility of many organizations
including community blood banks and the federal government.
Donors are carefully screened for a history which suggests the
potential for transmission of a disease. Only a person with a clean bill
of health is allowed to give blood. In addition, the blood goes through
extensive testing for various infectious disease markers including HIV and
hepatitis.
In almost every case, the lifesaving benefits of receiving a blood
transfusion outweigh the risk of contracting an infectious disease. The
risk of contracting HIV from a blood transfusion is currently one in
680,000. While the blood supply has never been safer, blood transfusions
are not risk-free.
If your doctor recommends a transfusion, you will need to decide if you
want to have the transfusion at all and get options explained through informed consent
prior to the transfusion. Your physician can advise you about all the
adverse consequences of transfusion, its benefits and how to reduce the
risks of any adverse consequences including infectious
agents. |
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What are the risks associated with blood from
volunteer donors, beyond HIV? |
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Most of the blood transfused is allogeneic (al-O-je-nay-ik)
blood from others. Allogeneic blood is compatible with, but different from
your own, which increases the risk of an undesired reaction. Ninety
percent of transfusion reactions are caused by the donor’s white blood
cells or leukocytes transfused along with the red cells or platelets.
Leukocytes or white blood cells carry certain viruses and can suppress
the immune systems of patients increasing their risk of infections after
surgery. Just as you may drink filtered water to protect yourself from
contaminants, you have the right to ask for filtered or leukocyte reduced
blood and platelet transfusions to protect yourself from these
contaminating donor white blood cells or leukocytes.
Filtered, leukocyte reduced blood has been shown in government funded
and university studies to reduce disease transmission, eliminate immune
sensitivity reactions and protect surgical patients from postoperative
bacterial infections. |
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If nearly all blood comes from volunteers,
why is there a charge? |
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While blood is freely donated by volunteers, blood centers charge a
fee to hospitals to cover the costs of collecting, testing, processing and
distributing the blood. These “service fees” also apply when you’re
donating blood for your own use.
Hospitals also charge a fee for laboratory work, necessary to ensure
that the donated blood matches your blood type and for the transfusion
procedure. |
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Will there be blood substitutes available
soon? |
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Despite promising research, a true substitute for blood cells (red
cells and platelets) may not be routinely available for many years. More
likely, blood transfusions will continue to become safer because of
improved blood donor screening and testing and filtration. In addition,
scientists are exploring new technologies to sterilize and eliminate
infectious disease from blood transfusion.
New drugs and medical techniques can sometimes significantly reduce or
eliminate the need for blood transfusion. For example, most surgeries
today require far less blood than just a few years ago. In another
example, patients on kidney dialysis who previously needed monthly blood
transfusions, now take a drug (recombinant human erythropoietin) that
promotes their own red cell production. This eliminates their need for
blood transfusion. |
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Can I donate my own blood for
transfusion? |
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Using your own blood, called autologous (au-tol-o-gus)
donation, significantly reduces the risk of a reaction or disease. You can
donate blood for up to six weeks before your surgery. Doctors may also
collect your blood at the beginning of the surgery and return it to you at
the end of the operation.
Another method used to replace blood loss with your own blood is
intraoperative autologous transfusion (IAT). This procedure allows
the doctors in the operating room to recover blood lost during surgery and
immediately return it to you. |
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Can I use blood donated by my family and
friends? |
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Family members or friends who have the same blood type as you can
provide a directed blood donation for you, however, most studies
show that directed donations are no safer than blood donated by healthy
community volunteers. In fact, blood donations from close relatives are
more likely to cause a serious immune reaction. In these situations,
doctors must treat the blood with radiation before it can be used
safely. |
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How is the risk of using blood from a
volunteer allogeneic donor decreased? |
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The safety of volunteer donor blood results from actions taken at
several levels.
By the Donor
- Self exclusion from the donor process for confidential
reasons.
At the Blood Center (collection facility)
- Thorough donor interviews.
- Careful testing of blood for transfusion transmissible
disease.
At the Hospital
- Monitoring and careful blood storage.
- Precise compatibility testing.
By You
- Through Knowing Your Options.
- Understanding the transfusion process and benefits, risks and
alternatives prior to consenting to a transfusion. These alternatives
include the use of drugs to assist your bone marrow to replace blood,
use of autologous (pre and perioperative) donation and removing
contaminating white blood cells associated with adverse consequences
from blood by a process called leukocyte reduction by filtration.
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Does it cost more to have blood filtered to
remove white blood cells? |
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Typically filtration adds 10% to 20% to the cost of preparing blood.
The significant cost savings in hospital charges and reduced patient
hospital stay associated with the use of filtered, leukocyte reduced blood
and platelet transfusions, more than offsets the cost to leukocyte reduce
by filtration.
It has been estimated that for surgery patients alone the use of
filtered blood would save the U.S. healthcare system six to twelve billion
dollars per year. |
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Will leukocyte reduction be beneficial to me
if I am having surgery and need a transfusion? |
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Leukocyte reduced blood has been shown in colorectal and cardiac
surgery to reduce infectious complications such as wound infection and
pneumonia. In addition patients who have received leukocyte reduced blood
typically go home several days sooner than patients who have not received
leukocyte reduced transfusions.
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What are my blood transfusion
options? |
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Your blood transfusion options are:
- Donating blood for your own use.
- Using blood donated by family and friends that is your
blood type and may require radiation.
- Using filtered, leukocyte reduced blood from volunteer
donors.
To get the best out of the transfusion you need to
ask questions, explore alternatives and demand the quality of filtered
blood products. |
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