Читать книгу Transfusion Medicine - Jeffrey McCullough - Страница 83

Hereditary hemochromatosis is genetically determined. The use of phlebotomy to reduce iron stores and prevent progression of the disease continues to be the therapy of choice. Blood obtained by therapeutic phlebotomy of patients with hemochromatosis was not acceptable for transfusion when the pathogenesis of the disease was not understood. Approximately two‐thirds of patients with hemochromatosis are probably eligible as blood donors, and thus about 65% of the units drawn during iron‐depletion therapy would be suitable for transfusion. Since 2016, the FDA has allowed blood banks to collect units for transfusion from this population, although this resource has not become fully utilized. Previous survey estimates suggested this could provide 200,000 to 3 million units [28] of blood annually in the United States. Studies show that risk for a positive test for transfusion‐transmitted infections is not greater from patients with hemochromatosis than from regular blood donors, and a National Institutes of Health pilot program was able to include these patients as 7% of their donor population, who supplied 11% of red blood cell units for transfusion and research [29–31].