Playing It Safe at Blood Banks

Playing It Safe at Blood Banks

The risk has some doctors advising patients t be their own donors

For those who need a blood transfusion during surgery, it can be very reassuring to bank and use your own blood or have a family member with a compatible blood type be your donor. In fact, some doctors now are recommending the procedure, known as an autologous blood transfusion, to their patients. Of the approximately four million blood transfusions that take place in the United States each year, the American Red Cross estimates that the percentage of people collecting blood for personal use has grwn from to 2 to 5 percent recently, and the organization expects the upward trend to continue.

Although most of the 2,400 blood banks around the country are safer than they have ever been, worrisome problems remain. Improved tests have reduced the risks of contracting the AIDS virsu from bloood transfusions from between 1 in 30,000 to 1in 225,000. More disconcerting, however, is the risk of getting hepatitis C, which can cause chronic liver disease. According to data gathered by the Food and Drug Administration, the risk of getting contaminated by hepatitis C is about 1 in 3,300 for one unit of blood. (The average-sized transfusion typically requires four units).

With over 20 millions units of blood donated in the United States annually, clerical errors in tracking blood samples are not uncommon. According to an investigation by U.S. News and World Report, the FDA compiled evidence of about 1,000 errors and accidents at blood banks every year. The number has increased tenfold since the end of the 20th century and has remained at similar magnitudes since.

Blood banks, are they safe? Photo by Elena

To donate your own blood, you must make arrangements with a blood bank at least a week before surgery. First your doctor writes you a prescription to donate your own blood, which you then take to the blood bank. Because your blood has to go through a separate tracking system to make sure it gets to the surgery site on time, the cost is somewhat higher – up to 300 dollars to donate your own blood, compared to about $150 or so to use blood from a blood bank.

In fact, doctors prescribe using your own blood more and more. Hospitals agree, is the safest transfusion.

Not everyone applauds this trend, however. A study in the New England of Medicine argued that the added expense of an autologous transfusion often is not justified by the small risk of transfusion-associated infection. The study also found that in the majority of cases more blood is collected than used and that the excess blood is usually discarded.

As an editorial in the same issue pointed out, however, cost should not be the only factor in determening a procedure’s worth – peace of mind is an unquantifiable, but important, consideration in any medical undertaking.

Blood you can use:

In your first month of life, your red blood cells build antibodies that determine what other red blood cells they will associate with. Group-O people (universal donors) can donate red cells to anyone but can receive only from other Os. Group-AB people (universal recipients) can receive red cells from anyone but can donate only to other ABs.

Recipient Group	Donor group A	Donor group B	Donor group AB	Donor Group O
A	Yes	No	No	Yes
B	No	Yes	No	Yes
AB	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
O	No	No	No	Yes