While plasma had been transfused as part of whole blood for hundreds of years, the specific value of plasma became acutely clear as a result of the devastating violence of WWII. Though plasma could not replace lost red cells and...
Did you know that patients across the U.S. require nearly 10,000 units of plasma every day? Plasma is the yellow liquid portion of the blood in which the red cells, white cells and platelets are suspended. It contains numerous proteins...
In the start of April 2020, SBC became one of the first blood centers in the nation to create a COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) program. The program, which encouraged recovered COVID-19 patients to donate antibody-rich plasma for current COVID-19 patients,...
Dr. Sam P. Most, Chief of the Division of Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery at Stanford Health Care (SHC) and professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, is not only an accomplished and beloved member of the Stanford community; he...
In early March, COVID-19, while present in San Mateo County, was still reported to be a low health risk to the general public. In fact, the first case of unknown origin in the county had just been identified March 2....
Beginning January 8, we expanded our collections to include plasma products drawn on the ALYX machine. The ALYX machine is an apheresis machine that separates and collects various blood components and returns what we aren’t using to the donor —...
Think about the last time you gave blood. Did you notice all the complicated-looking machines throughout donor center? We’re sure most of you have, so we thought we’d share a bit about what each of them do (including some of...
By Billie Rubin, reporting from the labs of Stanford Blood Center According to the Coalition for Plasma Science, “Plasma is often called the ‘Fourth State of Matter’, the other three being solid, liquid and gas. A plasma is a distinct...
In January of this year, we discontinued the automated procedure that collected one unit of red blood cells and two units of plasma using the Alyx machine. Later this spring, we will transition...