Millions of people receive blood transfusions each year. Blood helps save the lives of patients who need surgery or other 
medical treatment, accident victims and patients with cancer, hemophilia and other illnesses. If you are planning to have surgery, you may need to receive blood yourself. Your physician will decide if you will need a blood transfusion as part of your treatment, and, if so, the amount of blood you will require. There are five types of transfusion options available to you:
- Community Blood Supply
- *Self Donation Before Surgery
- *Directed Donation
- Blood Dilution
- Self Donation During Surgery
Donation, please use our Special Collection Order, which you can then fax or mail to the Red Cross along with the recipient’s positive identification. Please note, information on this Special Collection Order must be typed and also requires a physician’s signature. Once we’ve received your order, service representatives will verify the information and then schedule appointments for the patient/donor at a Red Cross donation center.
For more information, please contact us:
St. Louis, MO
314-658-2178
1-800-644-9435
314-289-1157 (fax)
All other Missouri, Illinois and Kansas locations:
1-800-GIVE-LIFE (1-800-448-3543)
314-289-1157 (fax)
Community Blood Supply
Of the millions of people who receive blood transfusions each year, most receive blood from the community blood supply. It is the transfusion option patients use most often. In the Missouri-Illinois Region, we serve 78 hospitals in 122 counties.
The safety of the blood supply is our top priority, and we have several measures in place to help us do just that:
Volunteer Donor Screening: First, blood is donated by volunteer donors. Before giving blood, donors must answer extensive questions about their health and risk factors for disease. They must also undergo a mini-health examination. Only a person with a clean bill of health can give blood.
Extensive Testing: Second, blood from each accepted donor goes through extensive testing. The Red Cross tests every unit of donated blood for blood type, Rh type (positive or negative), unexpected red blood cell antibodies that may cause problems in the recipient patient and for evidence of hepatitis, AIDS, syphilis and HTLV virus.
Donor Information Management: Third, advanced data management systems track information on every donor to make sure that testing is complete and to determine whether the blood can be accepted for transfusion. The Red Cross maintains a national registry of ineligible blood donors and checks each donation against this list before releasing the unit of blood.
Current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMPs): Finally, the Red Cross follows precise, rigorous process controls and good manufacturing practices as required by the Food and Drug Administration to ensure that each and every unit of blood entered into the community blood supply has met strict standards of quality, purity and safety.
Self Donation Before Surgery (Preoperative Autologous Donation)
Self donation, also called preoperative autologous donation, is a safe form of blood transfusion because it eliminates the risk of transfusion-transmitted diseases. This method is most often employed in orthopedic, vascular and urologic surgeries when the likelihood of transfusion is high.
You can self-donate if you are scheduled for surgery and are in reasonably good health. You will not be allowed to self-donate if you have an active infection and you may not be allowed if you have a heart condition. There is no age limitation for self- or autologous, donation. Many children and elderly patients have successfully self-donated.
Every Four to Seven Days: Unless otherwise directed by your physician, you may safely donate blood every four to seven days and up to three business days before your surgery as long as you meet the donation guidelines. You cannot donate within 72 hours of your surgery because your body needs that time to replenish its blood supply.
Before Your Donation: Be sure to eat and avoid acetaminophen (Tylenol), aspirin and alcohol for 48 hours before your donation. If this is your first time giving blood, you may want someone to accompany you to your donation appointment. Your hemoglobin/hematocrit (iron level) will be checked and must be at a satisfactory level before you can donate. Your physician may prescribe iron supplements to prevent you from being deferred at the donation site, especially if you have been anemic or are making more than one donation.
Units Not Needed: If you lose less blood than anticipated during your surgery, transfusing your autologous blood may not be medically necessary. If not, your units will be discarded since current safety standards do not allow their transfusion to other patients. For this reason, almost one-half of autologous donations go unused.
Directed Donation
With directed donation you choose your own donors to give blood for your surgery. Though you may feel reassured knowing whose blood you will receive, this will not prevent infection or complication.
A directed donor must be compatible with your blood type, be at least 17 years old (16 with a signed American Red Cross Parental Consent Form), weigh at least 110 pounds and be in good, general health. Once you know your blood type, you can ask friends or relatives to donate for you. If you are a woman of childbearing age, do not ask your husband or mate to donate for you, as it may endanger future pregnancies.
All directed donors are screened by the same strict standards as general blood donors, and all directed blood units undergo the same rigorous tests as those in the community blood supply. Your physician may prescribe frequent donation from a specific donor to limit your exposure to other blood donors, or when the donor has special characteristics such as a rare type of red blood cell, plasma protein or platelet. Under these circumstances, directed donors may donate more frequently than 56 days but no less than 72 hours between donations. In order for this to take place, you will need the following:
- A written request from your physician stating the need for the specific donor’s blood.
- A physician examination to certify the acceptability of a directed donor within 24 hours of the day of donation.
- Approval from the American Red Cross Regional Chief Medical Officer.
Units Not Needed: Any directed donation units that are not compatible with your blood type or are not needed in your surgery will be added to the community blood supply to help other patients in need. If one of your donors tests positive for a transmissible disease or if the donor indicates his/her blood should not be used for transfusion, the donation will not be used. The Red Cross will then notify you, but, to maintain donor confidentiality, will not disclose the donor’s name or reason for disqualification.
Blood Dilution (Hemodilution)
Blood dilution, also called hemodilution, is a safe and “patient-friendly” method of transfusion. It is used to decrease your loss of red blood cells during surgery.
In this procedure, one or more units of your blood are removed at the beginning of your surgery for transfusion to you during or at the end of the operation. Medical staff will draw your blood in the operating room right before your surgery. Since the number of red blood cells in your circulatory system has been diluted, you will lose fewer red cells from bleeding during the operation. After the surgery, your own blood is reinfused.
Self Donation During Surgery (Intraoperative Autologous Transfusion)
Another option is self donation during surgery in which the blood you shed from the surgical site is cleansed and reinfused while your surgery is in progress. Most intraoperative blood collection programs use machines that collect shed blood, then concentrate and wash your red blood cells before transfusing them to you. Because not all of your blood can be recovered, supplemental units may also be needed. You can obtain these units through any of the other transfusion options.
The primary benefit of this procedure is that, like self donation before surgery, you will receive your own blood. This procedure is widely used for surgeries such as cardiac, vascular, orthopedic, urologic, trauma, gynecologic and transplant surgery, in which the anticipated blood loss is 20 percent or more of your estimated blood volume. If you are undergoing cancer or intestinal surgery, you may not be suitable for self donation during surgery.
Arranging Your Transfusion
- Your physician will fax a special collection order to the Red Cross. We cannot draw blood from you or your donors without a written order from your doctor.
- Call the Red Cross to schedule donation appointments for yourself or your donors (contact phone numbers are listed at the top of this page). For directed donations, be sure to provide a list of approved donors to the Red Cross. Only those names that appear on the list can donate.
- After you or your directed donors give, the blood goes to the Red Cross for typing, testing and processing and then is immediately delivered to your hospital. The Red Cross requires at least 72 hours for testing and shipping.
- The Red Cross will make every effort to coordinate the transportation of your blood to an out-of-town hospital, or, for directed donation, to coordinate incoming blood from out-of-town donors.
- If your surgery is postponed, rescheduled or if your physician or hospital changes, please notify the Red Cross and hospital blood bank with the new information.