Blood An Essential Lifesaver of Patients with Blood Disorders, Cancer
17 July 2023
KUALA LUMPUR, July 17 (Bernama) -- Blood donation is extremely crucial to sustain human life, especially for those who were born with hereditary blood disorders or have contracted blood cancers where their bone marrow is not able to reproduce healthy blood cells naturally for the body’s functions.
Sunway Medical Centre, Sunway City’s Consultant Haematologist and Transplant Physician, Dr Ho Kim Wah said blood transfusion is necessary to sustain organ function, growth, general well-being and hence, support life for those patients.
“Various haematology diseases require constant blood transfusion, such as patients with acute leukaemia who are presented with cytopaenias (low levels of red or white blood cells, or platelets) and acute leukaemia or lymphoma who developed anaemia (not having enough healthy red blood cells).
“Also in need are patients with thrombocyopaenia (deficiency of platelets in the blood causing bleeding into the tissues, bruising and slow blood clotting after injury) due to treatments like chemotherapy, as well as those suffering from chronic disorders involving haemoglobinopathy like Thalassaemia major,” he said in a statement.
He said although the country has been seeing a down trend in new blood donors due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic that plagued the nation in 2020 and 2021, there was a slight increase in 2022 with 120,929 new donors compared to 96,702 donors in 2021 and 115,606 in 2020, while the past six months of 2023 has seen a promising progress with 59,244 donors so far.
However, Dr Ho opined that low blood supply will result in suboptimal blood treatments for haematology patients which signal poor outcomes for their health and in serious situations, may even cause death.
“They may experience impaired organ function, poor growth and complications from extramedullary haematopoiesis (formation and activation of blood cells outside the bone marrow as a response to haematopoietic (blood formation) stress) as well as poor quality of life,” he said.
Dr Ho said the many myths and taboos surrounding the act of blood donation and transfusion may also hinder essential life-saving treatments.
“For example, the idea of blood donation reducing one’s lifespan, getting infection during blood donation or it damaging one’s internal organs, to more subtle misunderstandings such as the blood bank having more than enough blood or donated blood being discarded by the authorities if it is not being used immediately.
“These assumptions can be life-threatening to the patients who truly require blood donation and if not dispelled, it can lead to critical medical situations. At the end of the day, do remember, one bag of donated blood will save three lives. Take a stand and save a life today,” he reminded.
Dr Ho reassured that the risk of donating blood is generally fairly minimal as long as the donor fulfills the qualification to become a blood donor, such as meeting the age criteria, not fasting, having an ideal body weight, physical and mental well-being as well as enough sleep before donation, among other standards.
“After donation, donors are always advised to rest for at least 10 minutes and have some light refreshments and to drink plenty of water as fluid replacement after blood donation is important.
“Donors are also asked to avoid strenuous activities in the first 24 hours after blood donation to avoid unpredictable fainting spells that might occur,” he said.
He added that blood transfusions these days are known to be a safe procedure but depending on each individual, there might be certain associated minor risks, namely allergic reaction and febrile non-haemolytic transfusion reaction (fever or chills that occur after transfusion), among other very rare cases.
“In any case, if a patient develops symptoms such as fever, chills, rigours, chest pain, sweatiness, itchiness, breathlessness, or any sense of uneasiness, they or their guardian should report it to the nurses or doctors immediately,” he advised.
Source: BERNAMA
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