A blood product is any therapeutic substance prepared from

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood is com ...

, usually human blood; in some medicolegal contexts, the term refers specifically to human-blood-derived products. Blood products include

whole blood Whole blood (WB) is human blood from a standard blood donation. It is used in the treatment of massive bleeding, in exchange transfusion, and when people donate blood to themselves (autologous transfusion). One unit of whole blood (approxima ...

, blood components, and blood plasma derivatives. Blood components include red blood cell concentrates or suspensions;

platelets Platelets or thrombocytes () are a part of blood whose function (along with the coagulation factors) is to react to bleeding from blood vessel injury by clumping to form a blood clot. Platelets have no cell nucleus; they are fragments of cyto ...

produced from whole blood or via apheresis;

granulocyte Granulocytes are cells in the innate immune system characterized by the presence of specific granules in their cytoplasm. Such granules distinguish them from the various agranulocytes. All myeloblastic granulocytes are polymorphonuclear, that i ...

fresh frozen plasma Fresh frozen plasma (FFP) is a blood product made from the liquid portion of whole blood. It is used to treat conditions in which there are low blood clotting factors (INR > 1.5) or low levels of other blood proteins. It may also be used as the r ...

;

cryoprecipitate Cryoprecipitate, also called cryo for short, or Cryoprecipitate Antihemophilic factor (AHF), is a frozen blood product prepared from blood plasma. To create cryoprecipitate, plasma is slowly thawed to 1–6 °C. A cold-insoluble precipita ...

s; antisera; and others. Some products for topical use, such as serum eye drops, have also been recently classified as blood components. Plasma derivatives are plasma proteins prepared under pharmaceutical manufacturing conditions, including: albumin; coagulation factor concentrates; and

immunoglobulins An antibody (Ab) or immunoglobulin (Ig) is a large, Y-shaped protein belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily which is used by the immune system to identify and neutralize antigens such as bacteria and viruses, including those that cause di ...

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Relation to other substances

Blood products may also be called blood-based products or blood-derived products. to differentiate them from

blood substitutes A blood substitute (also called artificial blood or blood surrogate) is a substance used to mimic and fulfill some functions of biological blood. It aims to provide an alternative to blood transfusion, which is transferring blood or blood-bas ...

, which generally refer to artificially produced products. Although many blood products have the effect of volume expansion, the group is usually distinguished from

volume expander A volume expander is a type of intravenous therapy that has the function of providing volume for the circulatory system. It may be used for fluid replacement or during surgery to prevent nausea and vomiting after surgery. Physiology When blood is ...

s, which generally refers to artificially produced substances and are thereby within the scope of ''blood substitutes''.

Disinfection

References

{{Authority control Blood products Transfusion medicine