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Blood platelet donations in great demand by Cindy Abole Public Relations This year alone, the American Cancer Society predicts that about 18,000 South Carolinians will be diagnosed with cancer.  Many of these patients will require platelet transfusions and other lifesaving blood products as a vital part of their course of treatment. Platelets can also benefit transplant and severe trauma patients. Blood bank medical technologist Jeanne Applegate prepares a platelet product for a surgery patient. Normally, a healthy adult has an average platelet count of 200,000 to 300,000, while a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy or radiation therapy may have a platelet count as low as 2,000—a level that may lead to hemorrhaging or perhaps even death. Lately, there has been a growing need to encourage people to give blood products, especially platelets. There are only about 100 active platelet donors in the tricounty area. That’s small compared to the 550,000-plus population of the Lowcountry, said Lisa Quick, donor recruiter representative with American Red Cross Blood Services.  Throughout February, the Red Cross partnered with Hollings Cancer Center (HCC), the American Cancer Society, WCBD-TV 2 and Blanche Darby Florist to host the Red Cross Gives Life Valentine’s Campaign. The program recognized cancer patients, survivors and others who have benefitted from lifesaving platelet donations. On Feb. 14, roses were distributed by HCC staff to all visiting patients on Valentine’s Day. “Most people don’t realize that platelets are needed to support some cancer patients during treatment and therefore, don’t realize the great demand,” said Michelle Peterson, HCC cancer prevention and control coordinator and member of the Red Cross Platelet Advisory Board. “We’re so glad that we’re part of this community campaign for donor awareness because it honors our cancer patients and survivors who may benefit from this remarkable gift.” The process of cell separation or pheresis in South Carolina has been ongoing for the past 25 years. Since the mid-1970s advances in cancer treatments and therapies have pushed the demand for platelet products within hospitals and specialty clinics. Patients undergoing chemotherapy treatments or stem cell transplants need platelets. According to the Red Cross, a bone marrow procedure may require as much as 200 platelet transfusions during the course of treatment.   So what makes platelet donations so important? Whole blood is composed of four major components: plasma, red and white blood cells and platelets. Smaller in size and more abundant than white blood cells, platelets help initiate clotting and controls bleeding. For some cancer patients, the process of chemotherapy, radiation and other treatments often interferes with the body’s normal production of platelets.  “Apheresis has been a big advance in the treatment of leukemia and other cancers, major surgery and organ transplant patients,” said Robert K. Stuart, M.D., professor of medicine,  Division of Hematology/ Oncology at MUSC. “We are very supportive of the efforts of MUSC’s therapeutic apheresis program coordinated through the MUSC Blood Bank and the Red Cross.” Platelet products originate from either a single donor pheresis or from multiple/pooled whole blood donations. Apheresis may add 15 to 30 minutes more to the donation time compared to a typical whole blood donation. But the process is safe using a blood cell separator unit and sterile kit that includes tubing, collection containers and sterilized needle. During platelet pheresis, donors suffer less from symptoms like light-headedness usually experienced following whole blood donations. During apheresis, platelets are separated from other blood products using centrifugation. The remaining blood components are returned back into the donor’s body. However, a single donor platelet pheresis product is equivalent to a random platelet collection pooled from six different donors.  “The risk of alloimmunization is less with a single donor pheresis platelet product than with a pooled random platelet product,” said MUSC Blood Bank Associate Director Magali J. Fontaine, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Alloimmunization occurs in chronically transfused patients who develop platelet antibodies, making it a major obstacle for platelet transfusion as platelet destruction occurs due to the antibody.   “It’s good for people to realize that platelet transfusions may support others beyond cancer patients,” Stuart said. “Sometimes people suffering from massive blood loss through trauma, major surgery or transplant have a great need for platelets. The good news is that this need may be temporary or only for a defined period of time until the bleeding is controlled in trauma patients or until cancer patients start producing their own platelets again.” Unfortunately, platelets  possess a short, five-day shelf life and cannot be frozen like other blood products including plasma and red blood cells. Platelets are naturally replenished in the body within 48-hours. Therefore, it is safe for a person to donate blood three days following a platelet donation. If there is a shortage in blood products, the blood bank can request products through the Red Cross donation system which is networked with other state supplies. “All blood donations are important,” Fontaine said. “Maintaining the blood inventory of a major blood bank like MUSC's is a constant challenge. It’s vital that new donors be recruited continually to help increase the local supply needed to maintain baseline inventories and for emergencies.” “Our problem is that the need for platelets in a hospital can vary from day to day,” Stuart said. “There are times when we don’t have all the platelets we need. At that time, we actually have to triage patients and make the ultimate decision of which patients have a priority to receive the platelet product remaining on the shelf. It’s a terrible situation to be in, but that’s why we work so closely with the blood bank staff. This whole business depends upon finding a steady supply of blood donor volunteers.” For more information about platelet donations or to schedule a donation appointment, contact the Red Cross at 852-2911 or visit http://www.redcross.org.  Leukemia patient celebrates life thanks to blood donations Former eye technician Kimberly Beilstein had no idea why she felt so weak and tired all the time. Nothing could explain the severe bruising throughout her body or her bleeding gums.  Several tests and many doctor’s visits later, the 26-year-old Charleston native suddenly received the most devastating news, she was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia (M4).  That was about a year ago. Twenty-six-year-old Kimberly Beilstein accepts a rose from HCC's Tyrann Huff in honor of the Red Cross Gives Life Valentine's Campaign. Today, she is in good health and feeling well thanks to a life saving gift and the guidance and care of specialists Uzair B. Chaudhary, M.D., hematology/oncology fellow Colin P. Curran, M.D., and the Hollings Cancer Center staff. Beilstein is also grateful to the many nameless heroes who donated blood and platelet products that she needed during her remission induction treatments and chemotherapy. “Receiving platelets and other blood products during my sickness was such a special gift,” said Beilstein. “For a person to give of themselves for another in their time of need is one of the greatest ways we can help one another.” Platelets are one of four components of  blood. Its function is to initiate clotting and control the threat of high-risk, life-threatening bleeding. People diagnosed with leukemia or patients who undergo chemotherapy or radiation are severely affected by the body’s inability to produce platelets. Therefore, platelet transfusions for these patients are vital in their recovery. Because of the disease and her age, Beilstein opted for a more conservative approach in tackling her condition. Prior to her decision, she even considered a bone marrow transplant (she matched perfectly with her brother). But in the long run, she didn’t like the mortality odds from such a procedure. A frequent blood donor prior to her diagnosis, Beilstein received from six to 10 units of platelets at the height of her chemo treatments. And the healthier she felt and progressed, the less platelets were needed.  “I have to credit my father for instilling that desire to continually donate blood,” Beilstein said. “Part of that desire to help people also comes from my working in the medical field.” Although she will never be able to donate blood again, she does have a message for those who can. “If you can do it, just do it,” Beilstein said. She has her own plans to “give back” for the care and compassion she received during treatment by studying to become an oncology nurse. “I feel so lucky to be alive,” she said. “I’m very grateful to be able to get the quality of care right here at MUSC.”