Blood and Blood Products Flashcards
Pharm. Chijioke
What are blood products?
A blood product is any therapeutic substance derived from human blood.
It includes whole blood and other blood components for transfusion, and plasma-derived medicinal products (PDMPs)
Highlight the importance of blood products.
- They improve the life expectancy and quality of life of patients suffering from life-threatening inherited disorders such as haemophilia, thalassaemia and immune deficiency, and acquired conditions such as cancer and traumatic haemorrhage;
- Support complex medical and surgical procedures, including transplantation.
What is apheresis?
Apheresis is a procedure where required blood component is collected, and the rest of blood components are returned back to the donor.
What are the working principles of apheresis?
Either by centrifugation (specific gravity) or by filtration (particle size)
Highlight the importance of administering separate blood components?
i. Transfusing only selected blood components allows the treatment to be specific.
ii. Reduces the risks of side effects.
iii. Efficiently uses the different components from a single unit of blood to treat several people.
Mention 7 blood products.
- Whole blood
- Red blood cells
- Platelets
- Plasma (FFP)
- Cryoprecipitate
- Clotting factors
- White blood cells
Explain whole blood as a blood product, indicating its colour, storage conditions, shelf life, and applicable disease condition.
Whole Blood is the simplest, most common type of blood donation.
It’s also the most flexible because it can be transfused in its original form, or used to help multiple people when separated into its specific components of red cells, plasma and platelets.
Color: Red
Shelf Life: 35 days
Storage Conditions: Refrigerated
Key Uses: Trauma, Surgery
Explain red blood cells as a blood product, indicating its colour, storage conditions, shelf life, and applicable disease condition.
Packed red blood cells, the most commonly transfused blood component, can restore the blood’s oxygen-carrying capacity.
Color: Red
Shelf Life: Up to 42 days
Storage Conditions: Refrigerated
Key Uses: Trauma, Surgery, Anemia, Any blood loss, Blood disorders, such as sickle cell
*Can be frozen for up to 10 years in special circumstances
Explain platelets as a blood product, indicating its colour, storage conditions, shelf life, and applicable disease condition.
Platelets are small cell-like particles in the blood that help clots form. They are usually given to people with thrombocytopenia, which may result in severe and spontaneous bleeding.
Color: Colourless
Shelf Life: 5 days
Storage Conditions: Room temperature with constant agitation to prevent clumping
Key Uses: Cancer treatments, Organ transplants, Surgery
Explain plasma (FFP) as a blood product, indicating its colour, storage conditions, shelf life, and applicable disease condition.
The fluid component of the blood, contains many proteins, including blood clotting factors.
It is usually frozen immediately after it is separated from fresh blood (fresh frozen plasma).
Color: Yellowish
Shelf Life: 1 year
Storage Conditions: Frozen
Key Uses: Burn patients, Shock, Bleeding disorders, replenishing clotting factors in a bleeding patient (from trauma or surgery)
It is used for bleeding disorders in which the missing clotting factor is unknown or when the specific clotting factor is not available
Explain cryoprecipitate as a blood product, indicating its colour, storage conditions, shelf life, and applicable disease condition.
Cryoprecipitate is a concentrate prepared from FFP. It is a product that contains concentrated clotting factors, and is most often given to people who have severe bleeding due to too little fibrinogen, an important clotting factor. It contains fibrinogen, factor 8, 13 and von Willebrand factor, etc.
Color: White
Shelf Life: 1 year
Storage Conditions: Frozen
Key Uses: Hemophilia, Von Willebrand disease, Rich source of Fibrinogen
Cryo is prepared by freezing and then slowly thawing frozen plasma.
Explain clotting factors as a blood product.
Individual clotting proteins also can be purified from pooled plasma or manufactured using genetic recombinant techniques and given to people who have bleeding disorders.
It can also be used to reverse the effects of anticoagulant drugs.
Explain white blood cells as a blood product.
White blood cells are transfused to treat life-threatening infections in people who have a greatly reduced number of white blood cells or whose white blood cells are functioning abnormally.
The use is, however, rare because of improved antibiotics and cytokine growth factors which stimulate WBC propduction.
They can be stored for up to 24 hours.
Describe how to obtain ‘cryo’ from fresh frozen plasma (FFP).
By freezing and slowly thawing the frozen plasma.
