How is plasma used

The average donation takes one hour and 15 minutes, just a few minutes longer than donating whole blood. Schedule an appointment now. Plasma Information. Do you have type AB blood? Learn about making an AB Elite plasma donation. Learn All About Plasma. What is plasma in blood? Plasma serves four important functions in our body: 1. Helps maintain blood pressure and volume. What is blood plasma used for?

What is a plasma donation? Plasma is the yellow, liquid part of blood that contains antibodies. Antibodies are proteins made by the body in response to infections. Giving this convalescent plasma to hospitalized people currently fighting COVID may help them recover. Based on scientific evidence available, the FDA concluded this product may be effective in treating COVID and that the known and potential benefits of the product outweigh the known and potential risks of the product in hospitalized COVID patients.

People who have fully recovered from COVID for at least two weeks are encouraged to consider donating plasma, which may help save the lives of other patients. COVID convalescent plasma must only be collected from recovered individuals if they are eligible to donate blood. Individuals must have had a prior diagnosis of COVID documented by a laboratory test and meet other donor qualifications. The first step in the fractionation process is testing the plasma for blood-borne viruses.

Next, all the frozen plasma donations are put together and thawed out into a big plasma soup. The plasma is then passed through specialised stainless steel cylinders and separated into the various plasma products. Any viruses in the plasma are then inactivated, with each type of plasma product having its own specific viral inactivation steps. Some of the other manufacturing steps also contribute to the viral safety of the products. Altogether, there are 15 medical products made in Australia using donated plasma.

They fall into three main types: immunoglobulins, clotting factors, and albumin. Immunoglobulins are used to treat immune disorders such as primary or acquired immune deficiency. Albumin is used to treat fluid loss or to supplement low albumin levels—for instance, where someone is suffering from shock due to blood loss.

And that injection my Rh negative colleague Amy will need if she has a baby? When it comes to the red stuff, most of us know that getting the wrong type of blood, say, in a transfusion, is not a good thing. But it may be news to you that plasma, too, needs to be compatible with the blood type of the person receiving it. Who can safely receive my plasma? Blood type Can safely donate to O-. If you have a particular blood type, this means that your red blood cells have certain kinds of antigens on them antigens are sugars and proteins on the surface of our cells.

My blood type is B positive, so my red blood cells have B antigens on them. So, in my case, my body will attack blood that has an antigen that my blood does not have —that is, A-type blood. To carry out this defence job, my plasma contains anti-A antibodies. Say my blood-donating colleague Sharon has A-type blood, and she wants to donate some plasma to me, a B-typer.

Having A-type blood means she has anti-B antibodies on her plasma. If she donated plasma to me, the anti-B antibodies in her plasma would attack my red cells. Thanks, but no thanks. Not only does it keep things flowing and prevent our blood vessels from collapsing, it contains a plethora of hardworking proteins which stop us from bleeding uncontrollably and help fight off bacteria, viruses and other nasties.

Yet, in Australia, not enough plasma is donated to create all the medical products needed. Is it a fear of needles? Or a simple lack of time? She thinks for a moment. No excuses.

Plasma: the liquid gold running through our veins Expert reviewers. Above: Human blood is made up of red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma. Fibrinogen is a protein in plasma which helps with clotting.