Directed Blood Donation

No. The blood that is safest for your child is the blood that comes from a blood bank through volunteer donors. These are usually people who have donated blood before, and all donors must go through a very complete screening process.

Blood donated from a biological relative is more likely to have viruses and cause treatment complications. A serious condition called transfusion-associated-graft-versus-host-disease (TA-GVHD), while rare, is usually deadly (fatal). Because of this, directed donor blood must be treated with radiation before it is given.

Also, the person who donates the directed blood may not be able to donate bone marrow, stem cell, or organs for this child in the future. This is because your child’s body may develop a reaction after getting the transfusion that would not allow the blood donor to be a transplant donor.

Every blood donation is tested for several diseases before it can be given to a patient. All people who want to give blood to a community blood bank undergo a health screening and are asked a list of detailed questions. This is done to find those that have a higher risk of carrying a disease in their blood. If there is a risk of disease, these people are not allowed to donate. Also, all blood that is donated is tested for diseases that may be passed through the blood. If any blood tests positive for any of these diseases, the blood is safely thrown away. The donor will not be able to donate again.

Every blood donation is tested in 2 different ways for: HIV, Hepatitis C and Hepatitis B.

It is also tested for HTLV I & II (Human T-cell Lymphotropic Virus), Syphilis, West Nile Virus, and Chagas disease.

The risks are very low because of the strict screening process for potential blood donors and careful lab testing of donated blood.

The chances of your child getting these diseases from any blood transfusion, either directed or from a blood bank, are:

• For HIV, less than 1 in almost 2.5 million
• For Hepatitis C, less than 1 in almost 2 million
• For Hepatitis B, less than 1 in 1 million
• For HTLV I and II, less than 1 in 2 million

“One in a million” chance is about equal to 30 seconds in a year or 1 inch in 16 miles. Directed blood donation is not safer than blood from volunteer donors.

Seattle Children’s does not accept directed red blood cell donations. Bloodworks Northwest (the main blood collection center in our area) does not collect directed red blood cell donations. If your child needs a platelet, plasma, or other type of transfusion, it will be from a voluntary donor. Blood inventory from volunteer donors is immediately available.

Directed donations may be used for rare blood products without volunteer donors such as granulocyte transfusions. Several days are required to receive this directed donation into inventory due to donor testing, scheduling, and collection requirements. Many times directed donations are thrown away because they are not needed or because they expire.

Most insurance companies will not cover directed blood donation since it is no safer than volunteer-donated blood. Because of the work and time it takes for the blood bank to track and label directed donor blood, there may be an added cost to the person getting the blood that is not covered by insurance. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer donor, please go to BloodworksNW.org to learn more.

If you still have questions about directed donation, please ask your child’s healthcare provider, or call the Seattle Children’s Transfusion Nurse Consultant at 206-987-5013.