Types Of Blood Donations - Health Sciences Authority

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Find out about the different types of blood donation, including whole blood donations and apheresis donations.

Our staff can advise you on the type of donation you can make that will help patients the most. This may change from time to time depending on the patients' need.

Whole blood donation

Whole blood refers to blood in its complete form, not separated into its various components. It is the most common type of blood donation.

When you donate whole blood, it is usually separated into its components – e.g. red cells, plasma, platelets – for transfusion. Whole blood is seldom used for transfusions except in cases of rapid massive blood loss.

Key facts

Common uses	For rapid and massive blood loss cases e.g. during surgery or for accident victims.
What's the process	Between 350 ml and 450 ml of blood is drawn. That's only 8% to 12% of the total volume of blood in your body.
How long it takes	About 5 to 10 minutes.
How often you can donate	Every 12 weeks.

Apheresis donation

Sometimes, patients need only a specific part of a donor's blood. To help these people, donations of individual blood components such as platelets, plasma or red cell are required. Such donations are known as apheresis donations.

Advantages of apheresis

• Apheresis donors can donate plasma and platelet every 4 weeks, instead of every 3 months for whole blood donations.
• Donated platelets have a short life of only 7 days and are in high demand. Through regular apheresis donations, you can help ensure a stable supply of platelet products for patients when they need them.
• Apheresis allows a much larger number of platelets to be collected from a single donor.
• It minimizes a patient's exposure to multiple donors' blood.

Key facts

Common uses	Red blood cells: Treatment of anemia. Replace loss of red blood cells in accidents or during surgery or childbirth. Platelets: Treatment for leukemia and cancer patients. Plasma: Replace clotting factors which may be depleted in bleeding or infection.
What's the process	Apheresis is an automated process: Machines called blood cell separators draw blood from you. The plasma, platelets or red cells in the blood are extracted. The remaining components are returned to you. You might feel tingling around the mouth area, or feel a little cold during the procedure due to the addition of an anti-coagulant called citrate acid to prevent the blood from clotting. This small amount of citrate is broken down very quickly upon infusion.
How long it takes	Platelet donation: 60 to 90 minutes. Plasma & double red cells donation: 45 minutes.
How often you can donate	Platelets and plasma: every 4 weeks. Double red cells: every 16 weeks.

Last updated: 31 Dec 2018 Share

Blood donation

• Can I donate

• Make an appointment

• Where to donate

• Blood donation process

• Maintain healthy iron levels

• Blood stock levels

• Types of blood donations

• Blood facts and figures

• Blood transfusion

• Covid-19 vaccine

• Rhesus negative blood

• vCJD restriction

• National guidelines on clinical transfusion

• Donating Blood After Overseas Travel

• E-services

Content in this section show

Blood donation

• Can I donate

• Make an appointment

• Where to donate

• Blood donation process

• Maintain healthy iron levels

• Blood stock levels

• Types of blood donations

• Blood facts and figures

• Blood transfusion

• Covid-19 vaccine

• Rhesus negative blood

• vCJD restriction

• National guidelines on clinical transfusion

• Donating Blood After Overseas Travel

• E-services