Donating double dose of platelets

[Shan Xue]

in some countries, platelet donors can donate double dose of platelets. wonder why this is not practised in singapore. how nice would it be to be able to save two lives in one donation :D we are not only capped in how many donations we can make in a year. we are also capped in how much we can give in one donation :x

some reference for donating double platelet


DOUBLE PLATELETS

Donating a Double-Platelet product means a donor gives enough platelets during a plateletapheresis collection to be used as two therapeutic doses. With one donation two patients are helped. Two platelet units may also be given to one patient. The volume of the product will be only slightly more than the volume of a single product or about the same as the volume of a unit of whole blood. The volume lost by the donor is replaced with normal saline and anticoagulant during the collection process. All red blood cells are returned to the donor.

Only donors with high platelet counts are eligible to donate double platelets. Apheresis instruments collect only a small percentage of the donor's circulating platelets from the blood and the platelet count is up to pre-donation level usually within 48 hours. Blood is collected at each donation to check the platelet count.

The procedure takes about 15 - 20 minutes longer than a single platelet product collection.

Some benefits of double products are:

Reduces the patient's exposure to multiple blood donors (one donation replaces 6-10 whole blood donors' pooled platelets);

Serves twice as many patients than with a single donation.

Criteria for Donating Double Platelet Product

Age: 17 years or older

Weight: Minimum of 110 lbs.

Red Blood Cell Level: Must be at least 38%

Platelet count: Must be at least 150,000

How Often Can I Give?
Generally a person may donate double platelets 24 times a year.

http://www.lifeshare.org/donation/apheresis.html


Plateletpheresis donors can donate a single adult dose of platelets approximately 24 times per year. Double platelet donations can occur every 4 weeks (or 24 therapeutic doses per year) to a maximum of 12 double donations.

http://www.arcbs.redcross.org.au/clinical/ResourceLibrary/TMM_ch13_Bloodguide.asp


Donors with high platelet counts often are able to donate the equivalent of two "single donor" units or doses during one donation. These units are called double products.

http://www.thebloodconnection.org/donating/platelet.htm

[Shan Xue]

Platelet donors with high platelet count of about 300,000 (average over the last 3 donations) and above can now donate double dose of platelets at HSA blood bank. When donating double dose of platelets, plasma will not be collected.

if your platelet count fall short of 300,000, maybe you can try using Emotional Freedom Techniques to increase it:

Using EFT to increase blood platelet count
http://209.221.150.70/articles/platelet-count.htm

following the EFT, one can recite the following to increase platelet count

For platelets we tapped first with

“even though my platelet count is low, I deeply and profoundly love myself”.

This was followed with

“ I bless you and release you, this low platelet count in my blood” and

“I choose for myself, my platelet count fast rising to 400, 000”.

and finally,

“I accept my platelet count to be 400,000”.

“ I choose my platelet count to be 400,000, right now”.