Blood Utilization

About Blood: The Need for Blood

Most people will require a blood transfusion at some point in their lives. To meet patient needs for blood and blood components, the Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center requires more than 2,000 donations from volunteer blood donors every week. And every year, those donations are used to help more than 200,000 patients in their recovery from illness or injury.

Each donation of whole blood can be used to create as many as four different products that can be transfused to patients. How can this be true? After the donation, blood is separated into its components (red blood cells, platelets and plasma) and fourth product, cryoprecipitate, can be processed from the plasma. White blood cells are removed through a process called leukoreduction (pictured, at top right).

Major Reasons Patients Need Blood

• Cancer
• Heart and blood vessel disease
• Disease of the gastrointestinal tract
• Emergencies such as car accidents and burns

Examples (quantities are estimated)

• Automobile Accident
  50 units of blood
• Heart Surgery
  6 units of blood
  6 units of platelets
• Organ Transplant
  40 units of blood
  30 units of platelets
  20 bags of cryoprecipitate
  25 units of fresh frozen plasma
• Bone Marrow Transplant
  120 units of platelets
  20 units of blood
• Burn
  20 units of platelets