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In a traditional blood donation, donors give whole blood—which consists of red cells, plasma and platelets. With the automated process called pheresis, donors can give a specific component in greater quantities than can be collected in a whole blood donation. During pheresis, whole blood is collected from one arm and goes into a machine called a “cell separator.” The machine separates the components and collects a measured amount of the desired component into a special bag. Then the other components are returned to the donor. In some pheresis donations, more than one component is collected. Platelet pheresis donation: Platelets help control bleeding. They are used in large quantities, and over extended periods of time, by leukemia, cancer, aplastic anemia and marrow transplant patients. Platelets also are used during surgery to help stop bleeding. Along with meeting the criteria for whole blood donors, platelet donors have two added restrictions:
Call your local United Blood Services center for further information on becoming a platelet pheresis donor. Plasma pheresis donation: Plasma is the liquid portion of your blood and is used in the treatment of bleeding, clotting problems and trauma. It can also be transfused to help organ transplant recipients and premature infants. The entire plasma pheresis donation takes less than 90 minutes. This includes the health interview, approximately 60 minutes for the actual donation and time for light refreshments afterwards. Your body is able to replenish its supply of plasma very quickly. You may donate plasma by pheresis as frequently as every four weeks. Call your local United Blood Services center for further information on becoming a plasma pheresis donor. Double red cell donation: Red cells are the blood component that is transfused most often. Red cells are used to treat anemia that results from surgery, injury or disease. We invite type O donors to consider double red cell donation. O-positive is the most common blood type and O-negative is the “universal blood type” because, in an emergency, it can be transfused to people of any blood type. Double red cell donation helps us maintain a strong supply of type O blood. Click here to schedule a double red cell donation.
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