Brigham and Women's Hospital Blood Bank issues over 50,000 blood products annually. The Blood Bank includes a compatibility testing lab, a component storage and issuing lab, a reference immunohematology lab, a blood component manufacturing lab and a tissue bank. A variety of services are supported by the Blood Bank, including maternal-fetal medicine, neonatal ICU, surgery, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Blood Bank faculty and staff are continually involved in medical education at Harvard Medical School and BWH residency and fellowship programs, including an ACGME-accredited fellowship in Transfusion Medicine.
The Blood Bank participates in a variety of research activities within the division and with local, national, and international collaborators. Areas of research expertise include transfusion reactions and immunohematology testing.
Blood Products
The Blood Bank provides blood products including packed red blood cells, platelets, fresh frozen plasma and cryoprecipitate. The laboratory performs type and cross testing to ensure compatibility of blood with recipients, and also performs type and screen testing to evaluate for antibodies against specific blood groups.
In cases of suspected transfusion reactions, the Blood Bank will do additional testing on blood products to evaluate the likelihood of a reaction. Testing is available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.
Specific tests include the following:
- Type and screen
- Type and cross
- Direct antibody test
- Blood product administration
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the Blood Bank, please call 617-732-7290.
