Counting units of blood donated

[jf]

Saw the Blood Stock Indicator on the website, mentioning no. of units of blood needed.

Can anyone enlighten if whether 1 donation of whole blood counts as 1 unit?

How about pheresis donation? Staff at Blood Bank says one plateletpheresis donation can help four patients compared to 1 whole blood donation. So does it equal 4 units?

[SUBA]

Hi

One "unit" of blood means about 300-430 ml of donor blood (whole).

Blood bank staff is perfectly right in saying that one plateletpheresis donation can help four patients compared to 1 whole blood donation. But I don't think it equals to 4 units.

Anybody to enlighten plateletpheresis donation unit ?

Suba

[Shan Xue]

when the Staff at Blood Bank says one plateletpheresis donation can help four patients compared to 1 whole blood donation, that staff is meaning that the amount of platelets collected in one plateletpheresis donation is four times compared to 1 whole blood donation. in whole blood donation, other components are collected such as red blood cells and plasma.

in other countries website, i have read figures such as 6 to 8 times of platelets collected through apheresis compared to whole blood collection.

it does not equal to 4 units. blood bank does not count that i have donated 4 times when i donate platelets one time, though i spent more than 4 times the amount of time on the machine. :D

[jf]

If that's the case, how does Blood Bank account for apheresis donations when it says it is short of x units of A+ etc? Surely apheresis donors like us must have contribute something !? :?

[Shan Xue]

i believe it should be counted as 1 unit. platelets after all, are part of the blood and whole blood can be separated into components.

amount collected during apheresis is about 600 ml, more than whole blood donation.