Blood Donation
How much blood is taken at the time of donation? How soon does the body make good this loss?
Only 350 ml of blood is taken at the time of donation. An average person has 5-6 litres of blood in the body.
In terms of volume the loss is corrected in 24-48 hours by the body. The red cell count is corrected in about 56 days.
How long does the process of donation take?
The actual bleeding time is about 5-6 minutes. There will be a medical check up before this and you will be advised
some rest ( for 5-10 minutes) and given some refreshment after donation. The whole process takes about 30 minutes.
How often can one donate blood?
The minimum time advised between two donations is 3 months. This gap helps blood regain the normal haemoglobin count.
How much blood can be taken?
Our body has 5.5 ltr of blood of which only 350 ml - 450 ml of blood is taken depending upon weight of donor.
Majority of healthy adults can tolerate withdrawal of one unit of blood.
The withdrawn blood volume is restored within 24 hours and the hemoglobin and cell components are restored in 2 months.
Therefore it is safe to donate blood every three months.
Are there any hazards in blood donation? What are the precautions that need to be taken?
Your health will not suffer because of the blood you have donated.
In fact, the bone marrow is stimulated to produce new cells.
However if conditions are not hygienic, you may be exposed to infection.
Precaution: Be sure that disposable needles are used for bleeding.
What happens to the blood that is donated?
The blood is screened for the following diseases/infections:
HIV
Hepatitis B & C
Syphilis
Malaria
The blood is grouped and stored either as whole blood or as components like Packed red blood cells, plasma or Platelets.
This is then sent on demand to hospitals.
What is done with the blood collected?
The blood collected in sterile, pyrogen free containers with anticoagulants like CPDA or CPDA with SAGM.
This prevents clotting and provides nutrition for the cells.
This blood is stored at 2-6 C or -20 C depending on the component prepared. Donated blood undergoes various
tests like blood grouping antibody detection, testing of infections like hepatitis, AIDS, Malaria,
syphilis and before it reaches the recipient it undergoes compatibility testing with the recipient blood.
Modern Blood Transfusion Practice:
Modern blood transfusion basically deals with the optimal use of one unit of blood.
One unit of whole blood is separated into components making it available to different patients according to their requirement.
Thus one unit of blood is converted into packed cell volume, fresh frozen plasma, platelet concentrate,cryoprecipitate and granulocytes concentrate.
Another important practice is apheresis. This is separation of only desired component from the donor and return the remaining constituent back to
donor.This technique is also used for remaining pathological substance in patients.
Withdrawal of blood for transfusion is regarded as a safe procedure now and blood donor has emerged as the single most vital link.
So this year my dear friends 'Donate Blood' and give somebody a GIFT OF LIFE.
How is Blood Grouped?
Blood is composed of cells suspended in a liquid.
The liquid portion is the plasma, from which therapeutic fractions and derivatives are made.
Suspended in the plasma are three types of cells:
RED CELLS: These carry Oxygen
WHITE CELLS: These fight infection
PLATELETS: These stop wounds bleeding
The most common type of grouping is the ABO grouping. Red Blood Cells have a protein coat on their surface which distinguishes them.
According to this blood is divided into four groups:
*A (A protein is present)
*B (B protein is present)
*AB (AB protein is present)
*O ( No protein is present).
There are subtypes under this grouping ( listed as A1, A2, A1B or A2B…) some of which are quite rare.
Apart from this there is another protein which plays an important part in the grouping of blood.This is called the RH FACTOR.
If this is present, the particular blood type is called positive. If it is absent, it is called negative.
BLOOD CATEGORIES
| A1 Negative |
A1 Positive |
| A1B Negative |
A1B Positive |
| A2 Negative |
A2 Positive |
| A2B Negative |
A2B Positive |
| B Negative |
B Positive |
| O Negative |
O Positive |
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