Blood Components
How can one donation help multiple people?
Blood Components
In modern medical treatments, patients may receive a pint of whole blood or just the specific components of the blood that are needed to treat their particular condition. This approach to treatment, referred to as blood component therapy, allows several patients to benefit from one pint of donated whole blood.
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The transfusable components that can be derived from donated blood are red cells, platelets, plasma, cryoprecipitated AHF (cryo), and granulocytes. An additional component, white cells, is often removed from donated blood before transfusion.
About Blood Components
What is Single Donor Platelet(SDP)
Platelet is a tiny, disc-shaped piece of cell that is found in the blood and spleen. It is also possible to obtain only Platelets from a Donor by a process called ‘Apheresis’. Like in routine blood donation, 350 ml. of blood is drawn from the donor. This is sent to a special Blood Bag, which is housed inside the Apheresis Machine. The machine spins, separates the Platelets and sends the remaining blood components back to the donor’s body. This cycle is repeated 6 – 8 times and the whole process will take approx. 60 to 90 minutes. Almost 300 ml. of Platelets is obtained in this manner from just one donor. The Platelets so collected are called Single Donor Platelets (SDP).
Advantages of Single Donor Platelets over Random Donor Platelets:
Single Donor Platelets are more potent than Random Donor Platelets. 1 unit of Single Donor Platelets is equivalent to 6-8 units of Random Donor Platelets. Single Donor Platelets, being collected by a more efficient system of component separation, have a lesser chance of carrying other components like RBCs. They therefore become available to be transfused to a patient with any blood group. Considering that the life of Platelets is only 5 days, Single Donor Platelets ensure that there is no wastage, as they are collected against specific needs.