Blood Donation Research Paper

Each blood product of donated blood has a unique role that it performs in the blood. The three primary uses of blood products include assisting with blood clotting, allowing oxygen transfer and as volume expanders. By separating the parts of blood such as plasma, platelets, red blood cells and plasma proteins enable the patient to use only one of these products for treatment rather than the other products they didn't necessarily need. This means the use of blood has tripled the number of transfusions that can be given for each unit of blood. This is need as there are shortages of donated blood. Using the whole blood donation also known as the homologous donation is considered imprudent, as the whole blood is more likely carry of transmitted

The first is red blood cells, scientifically known as erythrocytes. Red blood cells contain haemoglobin, which performs to carry oxygen to all parts of your body and removes waste products such as carbon dioxide from your body. You may also need a red blood cell transfusion based on disorders such as anaemia which can result from cancer and chemotherapy which can affect the body's production of red blood cells. It may also be needed in injuries or operations that resulted in low amount of red blood cells due to blood loss, and other factors such as blood diseases including leukaemia and pregnancy-related iron deficiency. Platelets scientifically known as thrombocytes help prevent bleeding, they are extracted by plateletpheresis that removes platelets and plasma. If a blood vessel is damaged, the platelets will help stop the bleeding my clotting together. The platelets are held by proteins in the blood until the damaged vessel is healed, platelets can also help repair damaged tissue as it contains a growth factor. Low levels of platelets result from severe blood loss, chemotherapy, major surgery and liver disease. They can also be transfused when a patient's bone marrow cannot produce enough red blood cells, from illness such as leukaemia. The last product is plasma, a fluid which carries nutrients, RBC, WBC, platelets and proteins through the blood vessel; it is transfused by apheresis. Plasma by itself can be given to boost the patient's blood volume. But plasma is more commonly processed with other products. These include cryoprecipitate which is used to treat severe bleeding such it contains a clotting factor and ANTI-D which prevents haemolytic disease in babies. Other plasma processed products include immunoglobulins, human albumin and