Donating Plasma? (Page 2): I worked as a phlebotomist (I placed the needle into the vein of donors to collect blood) in a blood bank around 45 years ago. There were times we dithdrew...

PhotogHobbyist Loc: Bradford, PA

I worked as a phlebotomist (I placed the needle into the vein of donors to collect blood) in a blood bank around 45 years ago. There were times we dithdrew units of blood into a container which had three additional containers connected by tubes. They were used to separate the blood into red cells, white cells, platelets and plasma for use as needed for a variety of conditions. Sometimes they even used the blood for research purposes. At times we withdrew blood as a treatment for polycythemis, a condition where the body makes too many red cells and they need to be removed.

drobvit Loc: Southern NV

edrobinsonjr wrote:

I used to participate in plateletpheresis where they only remove platelets and a small amount of plasma.
Tha machine has a centrifuge in it that separates the platelets. The rest is returned to the donor. Took around two hours.

Don't do it any longer due to of of my meds.

👍

fantom Loc: Colorado

jerryc41 wrote:

Tom Hanks donated "plasma" after recovering from Covid-19. I thought plasma was history because it wasn't as good as whole blood.

I wonder if he meant platelets.

tomcat

I have quite a lot of experience with processing the antibodies from human blood plasma. Currently there are several therapeutic treatments for rabies, hepatitis, measles, mumps, whooping cough, RH- blood factor, ebola, (several $25 medical terms--thrombocytopenia purpura), and now hopefully Covid-19 treatment. It is an incredibly elegant process to separate the antibodies and then add the stabilizers and bottle the liquid medicine. Currently, there are several major blood plasma processors collecting Covid-19 positive plasma, processing the antibodies to make a concentrate, and then filling the medicine into vials. It should not be too long before the first batches of medicine are available for clinical trials. There is no reason to doubt that it will not work, just as the other antibodies do when concentrated and injected.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

jerryc41 wrote:

Tom Hanks donated "plasma" after recovering from Covid-19. I thought plasma was history because it wasn't as good as whole blood.

Thats were all donated bood goes to anyway, Red Cross and many others, converting donated blood to plasma and selling it to Pharmaceutical companies etc. and making millions and millions of that, lining their deep pockests!

edrobinsonjr Loc: Boise, Idaho

speters wrote:

Thats were all donated bood goes to anyway, Red Cross and many others, converting donated blood to plasma and selling it to Pharmaceutical companies etc. and making millions and millions of that, lining their deep pockests!

What?!

tomcat

speters wrote:

Thats were all donated bood goes to anyway, Red Cross and many others, converting donated blood to plasma and selling it to Pharmaceutical companies etc. and making millions and millions of that, lining their deep pockests!

Sorry, dude. Both the American and Canadian Red Cross do not sell the plasma to Pharmaceutical companies. The companies accept the ARC/CRC plasma and process it separately for them and send the products back to them for their own use.

tomcat

edrobinsonjr wrote:

What?!

See my post that follows

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

fantom wrote:

I wonder if he meant platelets.

No, platelets are part of the clotting process. He was referring to the antibodies which he would have as a “Covid survivor”.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

speters wrote:

Thats were all donated bood goes to anyway, Red Cross and many others, converting donated blood to plasma and selling it to Pharmaceutical companies etc. and making millions and millions of that, lining their deep pockests!

No there is serious need for “whole blood” which they fill.

tomcat

rehess wrote:

No there is serious need for “whole blood” which they fill.

Once the whole blood has reached it's shelf life, then the red cells are spun off and the plasma is sent to the commercial plasma processing companies. See my earlier post above.

edrobinsonjr Loc: Boise, Idaho

tomcat wrote:

Once the whole blood has reached it's shelf life, then the red cells are spun off and the plasma is sent to the commercial plasma processing companies. See my earlier post above.

I was a medical technologist for around 40 years. We seldom sent any blood back to the RC because it reached it's shelf life.

tomcat

edrobinsonjr wrote:

I was a medical technologist for around 40 years. We seldom sent any blood back to the RC because it reached it's shelf life.

That's a shame because hundreds of thousands of pints get spun every year to remove the red cells and then send on for processing the proteins out of the resulting plasma.

edrobinsonjr Loc: Boise, Idaho

tomcat wrote:

That's a shame because hundreds of thousands of pints get spun every year to remove the red cells and then send on for processing the proteins out of the resulting plasma.

We seldom sent any back because it was used on patients...

IDguy Loc: Idaho

sb wrote:

Well, yes, exactly. Not as a preventive, but plasma from patients who have recovered from COVID is being used to treat those seriously ill with COVID. Since plasma is mostly water, plasma can be donated three times a week - the red blood cells of the donor being returned to them during that process.

Also plasma from all blood types can be given to all blood types.