Single Donors give a selfless amount of either their blood or its components like plasma, serum, and platelets. Pooled or random donation occurs when two or more human combine to donate the components of blood.
Components of Human Blood
Human blood is composed of red blood cells, white blood cells, serum, and plasma. The key difference between white blood cells and red blood cells is the presence of hemoglobin in the former and absence of it in the latter. Plasma, a yellow liquid has the greatest volume in blood i.e. 55%, while serum has the lowest one.
Plasma and serum are usually used for different tests; however, both are further used for other purposes. Plasma separation from blood takes more time than the separation of serum. Also, in case of plasma, the division requires anticoagulants.
Single and Pooled Serum
Serum does not possess factors that allow it to clot. The serum, a tiny leftover in blood, is collected from single human donors and then pooled under proper scientific regulations. The minimum age to donate is 18. Single Human Serum that contains antibodies is used for the diagnosis and treatment of many infectious diseases as well as immunotherapy.
Single and Pooled Plasma
Pooled Plasma consists of change plasma, acquired from more than 30 human donors. Pooling is a phenomenon in which plasma (separated from blood) donated by a number of human donors is mixed together. There are many companies that purify Human Plasma and turn it into life-saving drugs (that must be prescribed by licensed doctors) for the treatment of cancers and immune disorders as well.
During a plasma aphaeresis donation, the blood is collected by a machine which separates the plasma, red blood cells, platelets, and returns the red blood cells and/or platelets back to the donor.
Human Pooled plasma is used for the treatment of patients who have decreased blood cells. Included in the modern vital drug list by World health organization, new frozen plasma is used in hemophilia B. It is also used to treat individuals who genetically lack the components that are deemed necessary for blood clotting.
Single and Pooled Platelets
In case of platelets, Single donation occurs when a single person donates blood, goes through a process of aphaeresis where the machine separates the platelets and sends the blood back to the donor. This series is repeated several times and the required amount of platelets are obtained from one single donor.
Sometimes it becomes vital to collect blood from many donors. After collection, platelets from each donor are combined for further use. These are termed as pooled platelets. This method is more effective and fast than pooled donor where one unit of a single donor is equivalent to 6-8 units of pooled donor platelets.
Single donors also have a lesser chance of carrying other components such as Red Blood Cells. They are often collected against any special need that is why they have a lesser chance of getting wasted. Moreover, platelets from single donors can be transfused to any blood group.
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