2-4,16,18 PABD patients are also more likely to experience cardiac complications during or shortly after donation of blood. 3 Anemia Anemia occurs when the total volume of red blood cells is reduced below normal values. The red blood cells carry the oxygen we breathe. If red blood cells are low in number, this means that the blood does not carry as much oxygen. If a patient becomes anemic, he or she may experience weakness, lightheadedness, fatigue, shortness of breath, increase in heartbeat, headaches, nausea, loss of appetite, and in severe cases, may have signs of heart failure.
Anemia can be the result of blood loss or blood donation.
22 PABD collection visits are usually scheduled once a week but may be as often as every two to three days. The last blood collection is generally no sooner than 72 hours before scheduled surgery. When a patient donates blood before surgery, it is expected that he or she will produce additional red blood cells between the time of blood donation and the day of the surgery. However, after PABD blood usually does not reach a low enough level to trigger the body to make additional red blood cells. Therefore, it has been found that most patients who donate blood pre-operatively arrive the day of the surgery relatively anemic.