What Happens To Donated Blood?

We take all the necessary steps to ensure our blood supply is safe. Have you ever wondered what happens to the blood unit you donated at the LRC?

Learn the journey of the blood unit donated

You arrive for your blood donation appointment.
Health history and mini physical examination are completed.
For a whole blood donation, about 450 ml of blood is collected; two small test tubes of blood are also collected for testing.
Your donation, test tubes and your donor record are labeled with an identical bar code label.

The tubes are taken for testing and the whole blood unit is taken to the processing lab.

At our processing lab, information about your donation is scanned into a computer database.
Most whole blood donations are spun in centrifuges to separate it into transfusable components: red cells and plasma.
Plasma may be processed into components such as cryoprecipitate, which helps control the risk of bleeding by helping blood to clot.
Red cells are leuko-reduced, which means your white cells are removed in order to reduce the possibility of the recipient having a reaction to the transfusion.
Each component is packaged as a “unit,” a standardized amount that doctors will use when transfusing a patient.

In parallel with Step 2, your test tubes arrive at a testing laboratory.
Mandatory tests are performed, to establish the blood type and test for infectious diseases.
Test results are transferred electronically to the processing center within 24 hours.
If a test result is positive, your donation will be discarded and you will be notified (our test results are confidential and are only shared with the donor, except as may be required by law).

When test results are received, units suitable for transfusion are labeled and stored.
Red cells are stored in refrigerators at 6ºC for up to 42 days.
Plasma and cryo are frozen and stored in freezers for up to one year.

Blood is available to be delivered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

An ill or injured patient arrives at a hospital or treatment center.
Physicians determine whether the patient requires a transfusion and, if so, which type.
Blood transfusions are given to patients in a wide range of circumstances, including serious injuries (such as in a car crash) surgeries, child birth, anemia, blood disorders, cancer treatments, and many others.
Blood can be delivered 24 hours a day 7 days a week in spears and Tripoli branches and according to opening hours in all other centers.