Blood Donation Dictionary

• Allogeneic: Blood from someone else that matches yours, usually from a volunteer blood donor. Also referred to as homologous blood.
• Alloimmunization: The process of making an antibody against a foreign antigen.
• Anemia: A pathological deficiency in the oxygen-carrying component of the blood, measured in unit volume concentrations of hemoglobin, red blood cell volume, or red blood cell number. 
• Antibody: Proteins that react with antigens on red blood cells and may destroy transfused red blood cells.
• Anticoagulant: A substance that prevents the clotting or thickening of blood.
• Antigen: A substance on the surface of red blood cells that elicits an immune response when transfused into a patient who lacks that antigen.
• Apheresis: A procedure where whole blood is removed from the body and a desired component is retained, while the remainder of the blood is returned to the donor. Apheresis procedures normally take 60-90 minutes.  UNYTS offers this procedure through Platelet Pheresis donation.  Learn more about donating platelets by clicking here.
• Aplastic Anemia: An anemia caused by deficient red blood cell production by the bone marrow.
• Autoimmune: The process of making antibodies against one’s self (one’s intrinsic antigens).
• Autologous Donation: Blood drawn from an individual prior to surgery and given back to the same individual when and if a need for transfusion arises.
• Automated Red Cell Collection: Automated Red Cell Collection (2RBC) allows the donor to give two units of red blood cells, instead of just one. The process separates your blood into its components while it is being drawn. Because only red blood cells are being collected, there will enough for two red cell transfusions. The remaining components are returned to the donor.
• Blood drive sponsors: Passionate members of the Western New York community that promote, host, and recruit donors for blood drives.  You can sign up to sponsor a drive in your community by clicking here.
• Blood type: A, B, AB or O. The type depends on the presence or absence of certain substances on red blood cells. Blood types are inherited.
• Bone marrow: The soft tissue located in the cavities of bones which is responsible for blood cell and platelet production.
• Cholesterol: A soft, fat-like substance found naturally in the body.
• CMV (Cytomegalo Virus): A virus that may cause flu-like symptoms in the general population, but may cause severe disease in premature babies and bone marrow transplant recipients.  O donors are preferred for baby blood donation, and CMV negative donors are required for infants.  Only 20% of the U.S. population is CMV negative.  UNYTS asks blood donors who are type O to consider joining our Pints for Half Pints Program.
• Component: A "part" of blood. Blood is made up of different "parts" or components: red blood cells, plasma, platelets and several types of white blood cells. Each component has its own job to do. We can separate blood into components so patients can be transfused only with what they need.
• Cross match: To find similarities between a patient’s blood and a donor’s blood using laboratory tests.
• Donate / donation: To give blood. A blood donation is about one pint.
• Factor XIII: A clotting factor that stabilizes blood clots
• Factor VIII-Rich Cryoprecipitate: Contains the clotting factor used to control bleeding in hemophiliacs.
• Granulocytes: A type of white blood cell that attacks and destroys foreign substances.
• Hematocrit: A measure of the amount of red blood cells in your body.
• Hematologist: A blood specialist.
• Hemoglobin : The molecule in the red blood cell that carries oxygen. Hemoglobin combines with oxygen in the lungs and releases it in the tissues. It is what makes blood red.
• Hemostasis: The process of clotting.
• Hepatitis: Inflammation of the liver, caused by infectious or toxic agents and characterized by jaundice, fever, liver enlargement, and abdominal pain.
• Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP): An autoimmune disease where the body makes antibodies against its own platelets.
• Immunosuppressed: A condition brought about by disease or chemotherapy where the individual is highly susceptible to infection.
• Leukocyte: Another term for a white blood cell.
• Leukoreduced: Removal of white blood cells from products in order to prevent certain transfusion reactions such as fever, chills, and alloimmunization.
• Metabolic: Pertaining to all chemical functions within the body.
• Plasma : Plasma is 92 percent water, 7 percent protein and 1 percent minerals. Plasma is the source of gamma globulin, albumin and clotting factors. Plasma is used to treat clotting disorders, burn victims and shock. When frozen, plasma lasts one year.
• Platelets: Colorless cells whose main function is to control bleeding. Platelets are essential to normal blood clotting. They can be wiped out during treatment for cancer, leukemia, aplastic anemia and other diseases. They have a very short life span; only 5 days.
• Red Cells: Red cells transport oxygen to body cells and remove carbon dioxide. Red cells contain iron in the hemoglobin. Red cells can be kept for 35-42 days.
• Rh: The Rh factor is an inherited blood group on red blood cells like the ABO blood types. About 85 percent of the people in this country have it. Those who have it are "Rh-positive," those who don’t are "Rh-negative."
• Sickle cell disease: A disease in which the affected person makes an abnormal hemoglobin. Sickle cell disease is inherited.
• Transfusion: Replacing blood or blood components a body has lost in surgery, through an accident, or as a result of medical treatment such as chemotherapy.
• Thrombocytopenia: A low platelet count.
• Universal donor: A person who has blood type O negative and is therefore able to serve as a donor to a person of any other blood group in the ABO system.

*Information from America's Blood Centers