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Autologous Donation Procedure

Patients who are scheduled for elective surgery and are medically eligible may be able to give their own blood. Giving blood for your own use is called an autologous donation.

Autologous blood donations are specially tagged and bar coded with information about the patient/donor’s hospital, date of surgery, and other information necessary to deliver that blood to the patient/donor when needed.

Before donating, autologous donors must follow a simple protocol.

Central Blood Bank will schedule the patient/donor to donate one unit of blood at a time. We recommend waiting seven days between donations if more than one unit of blood is ordered. Allow at least one hour for each donation.

At the time of the donation, the patient/donor must bring the prescription and a positive form of identification such as a driver’s license, Brighten Life personalized Donor ID card, military ID, or a government issued ID card. The patient/donor will be required to read and sign a medical history form and a consent form.

During the mini-physical, we will check temperature, pulse, hemoglobin, and blood pressure. We will draw and test a drop of blood to ensure the patient/donor has enough iron-carrying red blood cells to safely donate blood.

A special label will be prepared containing the name of the patient/donor, birth date, and name of the hospital performing the procedure. A similar label will be applied if the autologous patient/donor donates multiple times.

Central Blood Bank performs a series of tests on each donation to ensure its safety. Any positive test results will be reported to the donor’s physician.

Advantages of Autologous Donations

• Prevents allergic reactions that are possible from receiving other donors’ blood

• Helps the body stimulate the production of red blood cells

• Provides an acceptable alternative to transfusion for some members of religious groups opposed to receiving blood from another person

Donor Qualifications

Donors must be at least 17 years of age or older to donate without parental consent. Donors 16 years old or younger must be accompanied by a parent or guardian at each donation.

Certain medical conditions may keep patient/donors from making autologous donations. However, many of the qualifications for donating to the community blood supply do not apply for autologous donations. Questions about eligibility can be directed to Central Blood Bank’s Special Donations Department at 412-209-7020, or toll free at 1-800-310-9552.