I was curious what blood plasma by itself was good for, and some searching led me to this article about blood viscosity. So this is what they use any donated blood plasma for! I just went to donate blood recently, and I hadn't been aware of the fact that you could donate just blood plasma until my friend who was there with me requested to just do that. I think that if a person has high blood viscosity, it would be a lot more useful to figure out the cause and treat that rather than moderating the symptoms by cutting veins. So why does the phlebotomy procedure the article described - making a small cut in a vein and draining some of the blood out - help with that? I would imagine it might change blood pressure, but not other blood viscosity factors like the thickness of blood moving through the chambers of the heart. You would think that a condition where the blood is too thick would mostly cause problems with how well the heart can pump it around the veins. A plasma replacement is an extreme treatment for high blood viscosity, though - I would imagine doctors would try taking some blood out or various medications first before resorting to it. Many places will even pay you a small compensation for donating you plasma to a good cause. The body replaces plasma very fast, too - at plasma donation centers you can donate twice in a week. People may need whole blood more often for things such as medical emergencies where they'd bled a lot, but the people that need plasma for things like high blood viscosity really need it by the time they get to doing a transfusion. See?ĭonating plasma is a great thing to do. So filtering that amount of plasma back into the patient's bloodstream helps even out the red blood cell to plasma ratio in the blood and return the balance to normal. The donated plasma isn't used necessarily because the patient is low on plasma, but rather because the donated plasma is a natural amount for a healthy person. September 9, - Yeah, if you want to define blood viscosity it's basically having too many red blood cells compared to other cells in your bloodstream. It wouldn't hurt to suggest the aspirin regimen for mild symptoms, though. I'm no doctor, so anybody reading this should ask their own doctor about whether they have high blood viscosity and what to do about it. September 9, - I don't know how technical or medically sound an answer this is, but my dad has trouble with high blood viscosity, and our doctor advised he take an aspirin every day.Īpparently aspirin helps to thin the blood, and for people with conditions like hypertension who just get the very start of high blood viscosity symptoms from decreased blood flow, it can really improve day to day life.ĭad has been taking his aspirins once a day for years now, and he does get headaches or feel nauseous like he used to before he started the habit up. Please be aware that the normal parameters do increase with age, I believe.ĭoes anyone know what a 'normal' blood viscosity should be? The receptionist told me that my blood tests came back with my blood viscosity being over the normal range at 1.91 and I wondered if anyone knows what this reading means. If all other readings are within normal parameters, I wouldn't be too concerned. Your doctor will take into account other readings from your blood test, as well, such as crp levels etc. It is your body's way of saying that there is something not quite right and further tests will be required to find out what that is. The overall prognosis for any patient will depend on the underlying condition and severity of any complications of hyperviscosity.Normal blood viscosity levels are 1.5 to 1.72 and it is not something that should alarm you. ComplicationsĬomplications may occur as a result of bleeding, thrombosis or sepsis and may result in neurological deficit, heart failure and renal failure. The underlying cause of the hyperviscosity syndrome may be treated with chemotherapy where appropriate. In patients who are drug-resistant this may be indicated as long-term management. 1-2 procedures are advised for the treatment of hyperviscosity syndrome in Waldenström's macroglobulinaemia. In adult patients, plasmapheresis to remove excess numbers of cells or circulating complexes remains the treatment of choice.Infants may be treated using partial exchange transfusion.This may increase the risk for veno-occlusive events. Unfortunately, repeated procedures may lead to iron deficiency, resulting in microcytic erythrocytes, which induce higher viscosity than normocytic erythrocytes.Some conditions producing hyperviscosity may be helped by regular venesection - eg, polycythaemia rubra vera.Patients with a hyperviscosity syndrome should be advised that this may recur they should be advised to look for signs of bleeding or infection.
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