Blood Donation Center:A facility where blood is collected from donors, categorized, divided into components, stored, and readied for transfusion to recipients. These centers can operate independently or be a part of a hospital laboratory.Blood Component Separation:A standard practice is to divide each donated unit of whole blood into several parts, such as red blood cells, plasma, and platelets. Each part is often transfused to different individuals, catering to their specific needs. An increasingly prevalent procedure in blood donation centers is apheresis, which involves extracting a specific blood component, like platelets, and returning the rest, such as red blood cells and plasma, to the donor. This technique allows for the collection of a larger quantity of a specific component than would be possible from a single unit of whole blood. Apheresis is also used to gather plasma (the liquid component of blood) and granulocytes (white blood cells).Blood Recipients:Individuals involved in accidents, those undergoing surgery, and patients receiving treatment for conditions like cancer, sickle cell disease, and thalassemia all rely on blood transfusions. Annually, over 20 million units of blood components are transfused in the United States.Autologous Blood Donation:Patients scheduled for surgery may have the option to donate blood for their own use, a process called autologous blood donation. In the weeks leading up to non-emergency surgery, patients can donate their own blood, which is stored for use during the procedure.Blood Typing and Testing:Once blood is collected, it is tested to determine the ABO blood group and Rh factor (positive or negative), and checked for any unexpected antibodies that might cause complications for the recipient. Additionally, screening tests are conducted to detect any signs of donor infections with hepatitis B and C, human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) 1 and 2, human T-lymphotropic viruses (HTLV) I and II, among others.Blood Storage:A single unit of whole blood is typically divided into various components. Red blood cells can be refrigerated for up to 42 days or frozen for as long as 10 years. They are used to treat conditions requiring oxygen transport. Platelets, crucial for controlling bleeding, are often used for patients with leukemia and other cancers. They are stored at room temperature for a maximum of five days. Fresh frozen plasma, used to manage bleeding due to low levels of certain clotting factors, can be frozen for up to a year. Cryoprecipitated AHF, containing specific clotting factors, is derived from fresh frozen plasma and can also be stored frozen for up to a year. Granulocytes, sometimes used to combat infections, must be transfused within 24 hours of donation due to uncertain effectiveness.Additional Blood Products:Other derivatives from blood include albumin, immune globulin, specific immune globulins, and clotting factor concentrates, often produced by commercial manufacturers.American Association of Blood Banks (AABB):The AABB is a prominent international organization encompassing blood banks, including hospital and community blood centers, transfusion and transplantation services, and professionals in transfusion and transplantation medicine. The AABB sets care standards for patients and donors across all aspects of blood banking, transfusion medicine, as well as hematopoietic, cellular, and gene therapies, and tissue transplantation. It comprises more than 2000 community and hospital blood banks, hospital transfusion services, laboratories, and over 8000 individuals from the US and 80 other countries.
