Africa-Press – Tanzania. MUHIMBILI National Hospital (MNH) has acquired a new blood separation machine for better management of the life-saving liquid.
The automated machine – Spectra Optia Apheresis – makes the national referral facility, only hospital in the country to offer the service in such means.
According to experts, the machine is used to perform a procedure known as apheresis that allows for only specific blood components to be removed or replaced efficiently, without any significant blood loss.
MNH Head of Haematology and Blood Transfusion Department, Dr Stella Rwezaula said apheresis is a medical procedure of removing a specific component of blood while the other components are infused back to the body using a machine.
The machine can separate blood into its various components that include platelets, Red Blood Cells (RBCs) and plasma with some components being retained in one sitting while the rest are transfused back to the donor.
“The apheresis machine spins the blood to separate it, collects the most needed components and safely returns the remaining blood through the same sterile needle used for collection,” said Dr Rwezaula.
At the launch of the apheresis services yesterday in Dar es Salaam, Dr Rwezaula said the apheresis machine uses blood to perform various functions including plasma exchange, RBCs exchange, platelet donation, bone marrow stem and white blood cells collection.
She said the machine will improve sickle cell anaemia management since it can separate a patient’s defective red blood cells from the rest of blood components and platelet transfusion is required in many clinical conditions like bleeding disorders, leukemia and cancer. In the majority of the cases, an average of five to six units of platelets is needed.
“Blood is made of white blood cells, red blood cells, platelets and plasma components, but this machine can allow a donor to donate one component, like platelets. To ensure that only a safe amount of blood is taken, the collection process is customised based on the donor’s physical size and platelet count among other factors. The entire donation process takes approximately one hour,” she noted.
Dr Rwezaula revealed that the machine can draw more quantities of platelets at once as opposed to drawing all components of blood at the same time from many donors. By collecting the optimal number of blood components at each donation, she said, they can help ensure that the lifesaving products are available for the community.
MNH procured two Spectra Optia Apheresis machines worth 245mil/- as part of plans to reduce government’s costs of sending patients abroad for several super specialised services. The devices can be used in the treatment of Sickle Cell disease and make the RBCs exchange faster and less frequently.
“An apheresis platelet donation can provide as many platelets as six whole blood donations. Also, a platelet transfusion from a single donor greatly reduces the chances of an immune system reaction to the transfusion,” she explained.
Dr Rwezaula said the machines can provide more than 10 blood treatments. It as well assists in hematopoietic stem cell harvest apheresis, the primary method for obtaining the cells that are transplanted in the bone marrow.
She said blood products contribute to saving of millions of lives every year, dramatically improve life expectancy and the quality of life of patients suffering from life-threatening conditions, as well as support complex medical and surgical procedures.
According to her, for sending patients abroad for conditions such as aplastic anaemia costs between 200mil/- to 250mil/- but such services are now offered at MNH with prices ranging from 70mil/- to 80mil/- only.
Dr Rwezaula said one donor is required in platelet Apheresis compared to six donors in a normal donation. This also translates to reduced exposure to antigens and also reduced risk of infection to the recipients.
A haematologist with MNH, Dr Elineema Meda said so far one patient with aplastic anaemia has been treated. He said the apheresis machine is vital in treating and managing various blood cancers like leukemia.
He also said apheresis is an established method of harvesting the stem cells normally used in bone transplant surgery. He noted that the machine is used to treat autoimmune diseases like ascending paralysis (Guallian-Barre Syndrome) by removing aggressive antibodies so that patients will no longer need to travel abroad to access the service.
“Red blood cells exchange apheresis is a sickle cell treatment that helps prevent complications and pain crises associated with sickle cell disease. This minimizes iron overload, which would be the case with simple transfusions where healthy red cells are simply transfused to the patient,” he noted.
However, he noted that the apheresis remains expensive due to the many numbers of sundries used.
“This technology is superior because it does not only separate blood but also manages diseases,” he added.
