So far, this series has discussed the eligibility requirements
for donating blood and how to boost iron levels. But, what happens to your
blood after you've taken the time to donate?
The Separation
The first thing that is done to whole blood is that it gets
separated into multiple components. Red blood cells, plasma, platelets, and cryoprecipitated
antihemophilic factor (AHF) are separated from each other, and then
transfused to different
patients. Different types of patients include newborns, cancer patients,
burn victims, and surgery patients. Every person in need usually needs one portion
of the separated blood.
Can Blood Be Stored?
Different parts of blood can last anywhere between five days
to more than a year. Red blood cells are generally refrigerated for a maximum
of forty-two days, but can be frozen for up to ten years. It is expensive to
freeze red blood cells, however, so only a small portion donated ends up frozen.
In order to freeze red blood cells, they need to be put in
anticoagulant and preservative solutions. These procedures have the FDA
raising safety concerns. When you freeze or irradiate red blood cells, they
can become damaged and become more prone to hemolysis.
Freezing Concerns
The FDA has a list of approved anticoagulant and
preservative solutions that can be used in the freezing process, but does not
condone the use of other solutions that are not approved. Since use of
unapproved solutions has not yielded adverse effects in the freezing process,
the FDA supports their use as freezing red blood cells lengthens shelf-life
considerably.
Irradiation Concerns
Irradiation, the process of exposing an item (in this case,
certain blood products) to radiation is sometimes viewed as a necessary
procedure used to prevent fatal complications. No anticoagulant or preservative
solutions have specifically been approved to use with irradiation, although the
FDA does recognize that some of the solutions have appeared to be safe in
clinical practice. However, the FDA remains wary of new anticoagulant and
preservative solutions and requests supportive data showing that irradiation
and the new solutions do not negatively interact.
Do you think the FDA should be stricter on preventing
unapproved solutions in blood? Do you think it is only a matter of time before
people have adverse reactions from blood transfusions due to unapproved
solutions?
Other Parts of this
Series:
Part 1: Giving Blood to Save a Life (December 1st)
Part 2: Are You Getting Enough Iron? (December 8th)
Part 3: What Happens to My Donated Blood? (December 15th)
Editors Note: Links
will only work if the blog has already been posted.
Resources:
http://www.givelife2.org/aboutblood/faq.asp
http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/SafetyAvailability/ucm153885.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemolysis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryoprecipitate
http://www.givelife2.org/aboutblood/bloodusage.asp
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Re: What Happens to My Donated Blood? (Part 3)
