Most donors never need to choose. You register, you get an alert, you give whole blood, one bag, one needle, about ten minutes. That bag is then split at the blood centre into red cells, platelets and plasma, so one donation can help up to three patients. For most people, most of the time, whole blood is the right answer. But some patients need platelets only, and that changes things. ## When platelets are the need - Dengue, the most common reason in Assam. Dengue drops platelet counts, and some patients need transfusions until their body recovers.
- Cancer treatment, chemotherapy kills platelets along with cancer cells. Patients need repeated platelet support.
- Liver disease and certain surgeries. For these patients, platelets from a random whole-blood bag are a weak match. What works best is a single-donor platelet collection: your blood goes through a machine (apheresis) that takes platelets and returns everything else. ## How the two donations differ | | Whole blood | Single-donor platelets | |---|---|---| | Time | ~10 minutes | 60,90 minutes | | What is taken | One bag of whole blood | Platelets + some plasma; red cells returned to you | | How often | Men every 3 months, women every 4 | Usually every 2 weeks, up to 24 times a year | | Where | Any camp or centre | Only centres with an apheresis machine (mostly medical colleges) | | Best for | Almost every patient | Dengue, cancer, transplant patients | ## How to choose 1. Default: give whole blood. Say yes to the alert in front of you.
- If a dengue or cancer patient specifically needs platelets, ask the blood centre if they run apheresis. If yes and you weigh 50 kg or more with good veins, volunteer for platelet donation.
- Group O and AB donors are extra valuable for platelets. AB platelets can go to any patient. Related: platelets explained · platelet donors in Assam · what happens to your blood after donation