Platelets
are specialized cells that plug damaged blood vessel walls and join with
other elements in the blood in the production of clots to stop bleeding.
Pheresis is an effective way to harvest a therapeutic adult dose of platelets from
one individual donor; therefore, limiting the patient's exposure to
several donors.
The pheresis procedure takes approximately two hours. You may bring reading
material, a movie or watch one of ours for entertainment. During this
time you will be connected to a machine by a needle in one of your arms.
Whole blood will be drawn from you and collected into a bowl. The whole
blood will be centrifuged, separating the platelets, plasma and red blood
cells. The platelets are collected into a bag, then the red blood cells
and plasma are returned to your body via the same needle. This process
is repeated until a target platelet yield is obtained.
A platelet pheresis donor must meet all the requirements as an allogeneic
donor and have a platelet count of >150,000/uL. A complete blood count
will be performed prior to initiating the procedure.
Platelet pheresis donors may donate every two weeks but no more than 24
times in a year.