What donors are saying
"You never know who might need blood…you might be the person who needs it someday."
Carla Ginardi
Donated via apheresis over 188 times
Blood Products
Blood basics: the story of blood and blood components
Blood is a living tissue that circulates through the body carrying nourishment, electrolytes, hormones, vitamins, antibodies, and oxygen to the body's tissues. People receive transfusions to treat anemia and to replace blood loss due to surgery or accidents.
Patients who require transfusion rarely need all the components in whole blood, so it makes sense to collect and transfuse only the portion needed to treat a specific condition or disease. Each component has multiple uses for life-saving treatment.
The three major blood components — red blood cells, platelets, and plasma — can be either fractionated from a whole blood donation or collected as individual components through an automated, or apheresis donation. CaridianBCT provides equipment used to collect blood components individually via apheresis technology. Additionally, CaridianBCT is developing innovative solutions to bring unprecedented levels of automation to the component lab simplifying whole blood processes. CaridianBCT also provides the COBE® Spectra Apheresis System and the Spectra Optia® Apheresis System, that remove or collect selected components from the blood for the purpose of treating disease.
Growing blood needs worldwide
Advances in medical treatments have greatly increased the need for red blood cells and platelets. According to the AABB, 38,000 units of red blood cells are needed daily in the United States. In 2001, close to 29 million units of blood components were transfused worldwide. Unfortunately the supply of healthy donors eligible to donate blood components is shrinking, which can sometimes lead to blood shortages while needs grow.
Who donates blood?
According to current information, less than 5% of eligible healthy donors donate blood on a regular basis. Combine this with increasing rules and regulations regarding who is eligible to donate due to blood safety concerns, and you end up with a shrinking base of donors.
Because of this shrinking base — and the growing concern of blood shortages — CaridianBCT is working with blood centers to convert whole blood donors to automated donations so that centers can collect multiple components from a single donor to meet specific inventory requirements. We are also working with the component processing lab to provide automation using products such as the Atreus System and the OrbiSac System. NOTE: OrbiSac is not available for sale in the U.S.
Find out about red blood cells, platelets, and plasma and how they're used to save lives. You can also find out more information about CaridianBCT's technology to collect components through automated, or apheresis collections.
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