Facilitation of blood donation amongst haemochromatosis patients

Abstract

There is an interest and willingness to donate blood through the Blood Service amongst uncomplicated haemochromatosis patients undergoing therapeutic phlebotomy. Since the introduction of this facilitation process, we have significantly increased the number of regular donors amongst this cohort. If this process was to be replicated more widely across the UK, this could have a significant impact on the blood donor pool.

The infectious disease blood safety risk of Australian hemochromatosis donations

“…The Australian Blood Service is in a suitable position to evaluate the contribution and product safety of hemochromatosis patients as blood donors, because of our large cohort of more than 100,000 donations over the 3‐year period from T donors. Previous published studies of hemochromatosis patients as blood donors have been limited to small cohorts of patients . This study provides additional important information on the acceptance of therapeutic donations, the proportion of T donors who disclose product safety risks and continue to donate, the rate of TTIs, postdonation illness reporting, and bacterial contamination results.…”

Causes of iron overload in blood donors – a clinical study

“…Although further evidence is required, it appears that HH is not strictly a monogenic disease and that a HH‐phenotype can result from the combined effects of several different genetic modifiers . There are obvious benefits to HH screening and inclusion of asymptomatic HH patients, such as earlier diagnosis, less morbidity and improved adherence to the blood donor programme . Inclusion of asymptomatic and otherwise healthy HH donors should be regarded as an elegant way of combining the continuous work to reduce shortage of blood products with effective HH treatment, in particular in countries where HH prevalence is high.…”

Genetic haemochromatosis: diagnosing and treating hereditary iron overload

“…However, as blood from venesection is now accepted by blood services in the UK and around the world (Pauwels et al, 2013;Marrow B et al, 2015), patients without significant comorbidities or cirrhosis entering the maintenance phase should be encouraged to become regular blood donors. EASL (2010) guidelines advocate the use of blood for therapeutic phlebotomy, where there are no contraindications, for transfusion.…”