Publications: Medical Services Provided by Your Community Blood Center

Community Blood Services of Illinois is a full-service regional blood center that processes and distributes approximately 35,000 transfusible blood products annually. In addition, the blood center provides diagnostic laboratory testing, therapeutic apheresis, marrow donor services and organ donation services to hospitals and other patient care facilities in Illinois.

The Blood Center is licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is accredited by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the American Association of Blood Banks, and maintains membership in America's Blood Centers and the American Society for Apheresis.

The blood center provides a full range of transfusible products: Whole Blood; Red Blood Cells; Platelets; Fresh Frozen Plasma; Cryoprecipitated AHF; Platelets, Pheresis; and Granulocytes, Pheresis.

Daily inventory and 24-hour emergency delivery are available to area transfusion centers. In addition, several specialty product services are available:

CMV-Negative Blood Components. Blood components negative for Cytomegalovirus (CMV) antibody are available upon request for neonates and other high risk patients.

Leukocyte-Reduced Blood Components. Several complications of transfusion may result from exposure of recipient to donor leukocytes. The blood center offers both leukocyte-reduced red blood cells and plateletpheresis products to aid in reduction of recipient sensitization to leukocyte antigens, febrile nonhemolytic reactions, transmission of leukotropic viruses such as CMV and graft-vs-host disease (GVHD). Leukocyte-reduced blood components are available upon request for all transfusion recipients.

Irradiated Blood Components. Risk of transfusion-associated GVHD depends on the immune status of the recipient, the degree of HLA similarity between donor and recipient and the number of viable lymphocytes transfused. Gamma irradiation is required for cellular components when the donor is a blood relative of the intended recipient and is recommended for the following patient categories: fetuses receiving intrauterine transfusions, selected immunoincompetent or immunocompromised recipients and recipients who have undergone bone marrow or peripheral blood progenitor cell transplantation. Irradiated blood components are available upon request for all transfusion recipients.

Phenotyping (antigen typing) and antibody identification services are available. Blood typing reagents for rare antibodies are also available from the blood center for confirmation of antibody specificity.

Community Blood Services of Illinois is a participating donor center in the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). HLA typing results from prospective donors are entered into the NMDP registry and used for preliminary matching with patients awaiting allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. The blood center's role with the NMDP is to facilitate both initial and confirmatory HLA typing, carry out donor evaluation and donor/family education, and coordinate the collection of the donor's marrow and delivery of the marrow to the patient's transplant provider.

The blood center provides collection, processing, testing, storage and distribution services for eligible patients to use their own blood in meeting transfusion needs. Requests for autologous blood services must be initiated by a patient's physician/surgeon. Each patient is evaluated and monitored by blood center staff under the direct supervision of a blood center medical director.

The designated donor program offers patients with uncomplicated transfusion needs the option to select family or friends to donate for them. Participation in the program requires prior discussion between the physician and patient. Prospective designated blood donors must meet all routine donor eligibility criteria and be type-compatible with the patient. Because the number of eligible, type-compatible donors designated for a specific patient may be insufficient, exclusive use of designated donations cannot be guaranteed.

Therapeutic apheresis procedures - plasma exchange, leukapheresis, lymphocytapheresis, plateletpheresis and red cell exchange - are offered for patients diagnosed with Guillaine-Barré, Myasthenia Gravis, TTP and other applicable conditions. Procedures are performed, under contract, at area patient care facilities. Consultation on vascular access, fluid exchange and replacement, recommended procedures and length of therapy is provided by the blood center's medical directors.

The Blood center supports efforts of the Regional Organ Bank of Illinois and other organ banking programs by performing infectious disease testing and ABO and Rh group identification on blood samples from prospective organ donors. Members of the blood center's laboratory staff are available 24 hours a day to provide such services.

Reference laboratory services are available to area hospital, clinic and physician laboratories. Services are available on routine, stat and after-hour basis. For patient confidentiality, specimens may be submitted with code number identification. Specific services available are:

Hepatitis Testing. Testing is available for the following hepatitis markers: HBsAg, HBsAg confirmatory, HBsAb, HCV Antibody, HBeAg, HBeAb, HBcAb-Total, HBcAb-IgM and HAVAB-IgM. HCV Antibody testing includes matrix supplemental testing, when screen positive or specifically requested. HCV RIBA supplemental testing can also be requested.

HIV-1/HIV-2 Testing. Antibody screening by EIA, with confirmatory testing by Western Blot when screen positive or specifically requested.

HTLV-1 Testing. Antibody screening by EIA, with confirmatory testing by Western Blot and or RIPA method when screen positive or specifically requested.

The Blood center offers a variety of medical education programs for area healthcare professionals including physicians, nurses and medical technologists. Blood center staff and information resources are available for in-house programs at area patient care facilities. Donor education, provided by the blood center's Donor Relations Departments, is also available to area groups.

In addition to medical consultation available in connection with therapeutic apheresis, consultation is also available on coordination of blood resources and component preparation in problem transfusions.

Medical consultation is provided by physicians certified in blood banking and clinical pathology.