Blood volume estimation - Bone Marrow and Peripheral Blood Stem Cell

Essential information

Obligatory

Must not donate:

If the estimated blood volume is less than 3.8 litres.

Supporting information

See if relevant

• Weight

Additional information

It is recommended that no donor should lose more than 13% of their blood volume during any donation procedure. This is to protect them from adverse effects such as fainting and becoming anaemic. There is a minimum donor weight at which a donation can be accepted. This is not always appropriate. Obesity also makes it desirable to use factors in addition to the donor's weight to estimate their blood volume. Fat contains far less blood as a proportion of its weight than muscle. In obese individuals the blood volume can be seriously overestimated from weight alone. Overestimating a donor's blood volume makes it more likely that they will have an adverse incident.

Reason for change:

This is a new entry to take account of increasing levels of obesit

Version details:

BM-DSG Edition 203 Release 02 (11 December 2007)