Thalasemia Minor

[yazid]

I have Thalasemia minor. Can I donate my blood?
What's the effect on me?

[sundar]

Hi

I am glad to post Dr Tan Hwee Huang's detailed answer for your query below :

Thalasemia is a genetic blood disorder. It is an inherited trait that affects the body's haemoglobin and red blood cells. Thalasemia can be of varying clinical severity depending on the degree of genetic dysfunction.

Those with Thalasemia Major would be very sick and require regular blood transfusions to correct severe persistent anaemia.

People with Thalasemia Minor are fairly healthy and do not experience any symptoms clinically. As such, those with Thalasemia Minor are still allowed to make plasma or platelet donations. We strongly recommend that donors with Thalasemia Minor donate plasma or platelets via apheresis technique instead of whole blood. It is because bone marrow of thalasemia donor is already working hard to compensate for the thalasemic condition and we do not want to further exhaust their marrow. In addition, the red blood cells of those with Thalasemia Minor are also ore fragile. These red blood cells have a shorter lifespan and hence would not be suitable for transfusion to anaemic patients.

Apheresis is a specialized form of blood donation in which only plasma or platelets are extracted from the donor. The donor's RBCs are filtered off simultaneously and returned to the donor's circulation. There are certain donor criteria. The donor's weight must be 51 kg or more to qualify for apheresis donation. The cubital veins should be sufficiently large to allow adequate venous access. Donors with Thalasemia Minor must also have a minimal hemoglobin level of 12.5 g/dl before they can give blood. This will be tested before they make the blood donation.

We hope we have managed to answer your queries and look forward to serving you in the near future. You can log on to we web site at www.hsa.gov.sg/donorcare for more details about blood donation criteria. You can also call us directly at 62130626 or contact the Donor Managers of the Singapore Red Cross Society at 62200183 for further details on blood donation.

Warmest Regards,
Dr Tan Hwee Huang
Deputy Director (Blood Resources)
Centre for Transfusion Medicine
Health Sciences Authority

Regards,
Sundar
Forum Moderator

[camiamber]

Can you explain the process for donating blood via the "apheresis technique"? Thank you for all of your excellent info!

[Shan Xue]

apheresis technique is for donating specific blood components such as plasma or platelets using a cell separation machine. The blood flows from the donor into the cell separation machine and the blood components can be separated into different layers by centrifugation.

The desire component (platelets or/and plasma) are extracted in the machine and subsequently the blood is returned back to the donor. The procedure is carried out until approximately 200-300mls of platelets are collected.

You can find more info at

http://www.hsa.gov.sg/html/consumer/ctm_apheresis_donation.html

[camiamber]

Thank you!

[Trowa]

i have beta minor also... but i wan to donate blood! i feel responsible to save lives though they're strangers to me. but i can't bear to see people die becoz of my selfishness.

i can donate right? it'd just a little tiring for me, that's all right? other than the exhausting bone marrow, i dun even care about that. i have only 1 life and my blood can save many lives... i can still donate right?

[Shan Xue]

if beta minor is the same as Thalasemia Minor, sundar has posted the reply from Dr Tan.


We strongly recommend that donors with Thalasemia Minor donate plasma or platelets via apheresis technique instead of whole blood

if beta minor is different from Thalasemia Minor, you can either call blood bank or email them to clarify whether you can donate.

Take care :D

[camiamber]

Beta Minor is thalasemia B, also known as Mediterranean anemia, just different names, same disease. Thalasemia Alpha is the life debilitating disease I believe. If you know you have Beta, make sure the person you are having children with does not also have Beta, then the child will most likely be Alpha is how it was explained to me. There is lots on the web about it, scary!

[Trowa]

I failed the blood count test twice... i just can't reach the level of 12.5 for the blood count...

it's so difficult! the best i got was 12, and they let me in. can't the blood count minimum level, be lowered for Beta minors? :( i'm really disappointed with myself for having such a disease...

all i could do, was to sit and watch. hate it when i feel helpless.

[Shan Xue]

if you have a big vein on one arm, you can try to donate platelets at SGH.

http://www.sgh.com.sg/MedicalSpecialtiesnServices/ClinicalSpecialties/Medical/Haematology/haem6.htm

Criteria for donating platelets at SGH is lower than blood bank. i heard from the nurse there hemoglobin just need 11+. reason for the difference is the two schools of thought. blood bank requires higher hemoglobin of 12.5 for females to donate platelets compared to 12 for whole blood. reason being they think the procedure is longer and people with lower hemoglobin might faint during the process. SGH thinks that platelet donation hardly lose hemoglobin as only small amount of red blood is drawn for the blood testing. ie. little loss of red blood and hence negligbile loss of hemoglobin in platelet donation.

[Trowa]

hmm... SGH .. i should try that out one day :) thanks to everyone, though it's kind of sad.. that i can't donate blood ..:( hopefully, my family next time, won't get the B.minor from me. i will definitely encourage them to donate :D ;)

[Hikoto]

Hey great topic and great reply! It was exactly what I was looking for! But I have a question about the blood count test. Usually when I do it at hospitals, they take like A FEW HOURS to get my blood count, do I have to wait that long when I go for the compulsory blood count test prior to donation?

Anybody who's been through the test please reply! (:

Thanks!

[Shan Xue]

Do you mean every time before you donate at the same hospital, they take a few hours to do the blood test before donation? Are you donating platelets or whole blood or other components?

At SGH, for platelet donation, the few hours wait is only for 1st time donation. At blood bank, don't have to wait. Just need a few minutes to test hemoglobin.

[Hikoto]

Oh I see....good good. (My blood tests is referring to those I had when I was young, I don't know why it took them a gazillion years to diagnose me with Thalessemia Minor so yeahh. Haha.)

Thanks for the reply. (: