Will your child
need a plasma
transfusion?
Plasma is a yellow liquid that carries red cells, white
cells and platelets within the blood vessels around the
body. It contains vital proteins known as clotting
factors. These clotting factors, together with platelets,
allow blood to ‘clot’ when needed. Healthy blood
clotting is important to prevent bleeding and excessive
bruising.
Blood from donors is separated into red cells, platelets
and plasma. The plasma is quickly frozen to make Fresh
Frozen Plasma, often called FFP. Plasma given to
patients may be made from a single bag of blood or
manufactured from lots of plasma from many
thousands of blood donations.
What is plasma used for?
Plasma is usually used to replace missing or low levels of
clotting factors. It may be needed for patients who have
liver disease, for patients with other types of clotting
problems or certain types of inherited bleeding disorders.
Plasma may also be required for patients who have lost a
lot of blood, or for those having heart surgery or liver
surgery. Most people can cope with losing a moderate
amount of blood without needing a plasma transfusion.
However, if a large amount of blood is lost, a plasma
transfusion may be the only way of rapidly replacing
clotting factors.
How will the plasma be given and how
will my child feel?
Plasma is given through a tiny tube directly into a vein.
Most people do not feel anything unusual whilst receiving
a plasma transfusion. A member of staff will monitor your
child closely before, during and after the transfusion.
A few patients may develop skin rashes, shortness of
breath or a rise in body temperature. These reactions are
usually mild and easily treated with paracetamol or by
slowing down the transfusion.
Is plasma safe?
Yes. The risk that a plasma transfusion will make your
child ill is very low. One of the most important ways of
ensuring a safe transfusion is to make sure your child gets
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the right plasma. To ensure that your child receives the
correct plasma, staff carry out careful identification
checks of your child, both when they take blood samples
and, along with the bag of plasma, before it is given. This
is why it is important that your child wears an
identification band.
If you are with your child, you should also be asked to
confirm their full name, address and date of birth. Please
remind the nurse or doctor to ask you this if they do not
do so.
In the UK a number of precautions are taken to ensure
that the plasma given to children is safe. All children born
after 1st January 1996 receive plasma which is imported
from abroad. This is to reduce the very small risk of
acquiring variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). vCJD is
a human disease linked with BSE (Bovine Spongiform
Encephalopathy) in cows and there is currently no blood
test to identify it.
To reduce the already very small chance of getting a virus,
the plasma will also have been treated to destroy viruses
such as HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) or Hepatitis
C. Alternatively the plasma may have been pooled with
many other donations and treated with a chemical which
inactivates and kills viruses such as HIV and Hepatitis C;
this plasma is called solvent detergent Plasma.
Plasma, like other blood components, can cause reactions
and infections, but this is rare. Plasma can occasionally
cause a reaction called Transfusion-Related Acute Lung
Injury (TRALI) which leads to problems with breathing
and is sometimes severe. One cause is thought to be
certain proteins present in the plasma when the donor
has been pregnant in the past. To minimise the risk of
TRALI, we now use plasma from male donors only or by
pooling plasma donations.
What if I have worries about my child
receiving plasma?
Please tell your doctor or nurse about any concerns you
or your child may have, no matter how trivial you think
they may be. Many hospitals have a dedicated Hospital
Transfusion Team, and they may be able to come and
discuss your concerns with you.
V
What is Plasma?
Additional sources of Information
If you are interested in finding out more about blood
transfusion and have access to the internet, you may find
the following websites useful:
Welsh Blood Service
www.welshblood.org.uk
NHS Choices
www.nhs.uk/conditions/blood-transfusion
UK Transfusion Services
www.transfusionguidelines.org.uk
NHSBT
www.blood.co.uk
In order to plan for future blood demands, information
about which patients receive blood needs to be gathered.
We may ask a hospital or GP to provide limited medical
information on a sample of patients who have received
blood transfusions.
Any information that is passed on to WBS is held securely,
with the rights of these patients protected under the Data
Protection Act (1998).
For additional copies of this leaflet and for any further
information please contact the Welsh Blood Service on
01443 622126.
Acknowledgements to NHS Blood and Transplant for the
original content of this leaflet.
Note that as a precautionary measure to
reduce the risk of transmitting vCJD, people
who have received a blood transfusion since
1980 are not currently able to donate blood.
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