[Educated donor--safe patient]. / Wyedukowany dawca--bezpieczny pacjent.

UNLABELLED: The safety of transfusion is still improving and very important is raising of education among donors. The important element is also awareness of the possibility of withdrawing themselves from the donation process when they know that their blood isn't suitable for recipients. AIM: The aim of this study was checked of donor's knowledge about the risk of transfusion transmitted infections. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The 581 regular donors (86.2% men, mean age 32 years) who answered of questions about tests which are performed in donation, and about their knowledge of transmission infections by transfusions. Donors gave blood average four times a year, for 11 years. RESULTS: Over 85% of respondents believed that blood is safe. More than half of donors knew that during donation can be detected anemia, syphilis, jaundice, but 50% believed that the hepatitis viruses can be detected after one week after infection. More than 80% of donors knew about the possibility of detecting of HIV infection, but 11% written that HIV can be detected after one day after infection. Approximately 50% of donors believed that can be detected diabetes during donation, and more than 12% of them--that can be detected thyropathy and cancer. The 30% of blood donors didn't know what tests were performed in the blood donations. Donors (80%) knew about the risk groups. Donors (50%) knew correct temporary disqualification periods after surgery and tattoo also, but 17% of them indicated a shorter period of disqualification. 43% of donors shortened the time after gastroscopy. Over 30% of donors didn't know about risks of infection in case of contact with alien blood. A lot of donors (63.3%) knew about the possibility of withdrawing themselves from the donation and 43.5% of them knew about this rule. CONCLUSION: The donor doesn't need to know the details of detection of infections in blood, but donor need to know that he should be aware that even a few months is needed to obtain a reliable result, which translates into transfusion safety. For this purpose, he should be given the appropriate information. Blood transfusion services should not only seek to increase the volume of donations, but to contribute to ensure that donors are given educational materials regarding infectious diseases transmitted by blood transfusion.

Early Administration of Convalescent Plasma Improves Survival in Patients with Hematological Malignancies and COVID-19.

The use of convalescent plasma in the treatment of COVID-19 may lead to a milder course of infection and has been associated with improved outcomes. Determining optimal treatments in high risk populations is crucial, as is the case in those with hematological malignancies. We analyzed a cohort of 23 patients with hematological malignancies and COVID-19 who had received plasma 48-72 h after the diagnosis of infection and compared it with a historical group of 22 patients who received other therapy. Overall survival in those who received convalescent plasma was significantly higher than in the historical group (p = 0.03460). The plasma-treated group also showed a significantly milder course of infection (p = 0.03807), characterized by less severe symptoms and faster recovery (p = 0.00001). In conclusion, we have demonstrated that convalescent plasma is an effective treatment and its early administration leads to clinical improvement, increased viral clearance and longer overall survival in patients with hematological malignancies and COVID-19. To our knowledge, this is the first report to analyze the efficacy of convalescent plasma in a cohort of patients with hematological malignancies.

[Iron stores in regular blood donors]. / Badania gospodarki zelazowej u wielokrotnych dawców krwi.

The aim of this study was to assess the iron balance status in the group of 151 male regular blood donors with normal hemoglobin (Hb) and hematocrit (Ht) level who had given over 10 donations of the whole blood with the frequency of 4-6 units per year. We though to determine the prevalence of iron deficiency in this group of donors and its relationship with the cumulative number of previously given blood, as well as to compare the sensitivity of serum ferritin (FRT) with serum soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) level in detecting tissular iron stores depletion in donors with normal blood count. The control group comprised 50 age-matched first-time donors. For each donor we determined the blood count, serum iron level, total iron binding capacity (TIBC), transferrin saturation, serum transferrin (TRF), FRT and sTfR level. We determined also serum erythropoietin (EPO) level. In all first-time donors iron metabolism parameters and EPO level were normal. In regular donors following abnormalities were noted: FRT level was below 20 micrograms/l in 75 (49.7%), sTfR was increased in 28 (18.5%) of donors. In the majority of donors with an increase of sTfR level FRT level was decreased (22 out of 28, 78.6%), but sTfR concentration was elevated only in a small proportion of donors with a decrease of FRT level (22 out of 75, 29.3%). When compared mean values between two groups of donors, following differences were found: TIBC, TRF, sTfR and EPO were significantly higher, and MCV, FRT and TS were significantly lower in regular donors than in control ones. We did not found a relationship between the cumulative number of previous donations and the degree of iron depletion; a positive correlation of this number with FRT level is to be explained by a relationship between FRT level and the donors' age. In conclusion we found a high incidence of iron depletion in regular whole blood donors with normal blood count. It is then advisable to regularly check the iron metabolism status in those donors in order to prevent them from keeping on giving blood until the restoration of iron balance.