Tracking lifesaving donations, ICCBBA supports blood cancer treatment through global standards.
September is Blood Cancer Awareness Month, a time to raise awareness about blood cancers like leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma, and the treatments that give patients hope for recovery. Blood cancer patients often rely on lifesaving therapies such as bone marrow, white blood cell, and stem cell transplants to help their bodies heal. At ICCBBA, we are proud to play a crucial role in supporting these treatments through our ISBT 128 Standard, which ensures safety and traceability.
The Critical Role of Stem Cell and Blood Transplants in Blood Cancer Treatment
For many blood cancer patients, transplants of bone marrow, white blood cells, or stem cells are essential in their treatment journey. These transplants provide the body with the healthy cells it needs to fight the disease, rebuild the immune system, and restore normal blood cell production. However, the success of such treatments depends heavily on precision and safety—ensuring that donations from a matching donor or the patient’s own cells are properly identified, processed, and tracked throughout the entire process.
Once collected, donations at facilities registered with ICCBBA are assigned a globally unique donation identification number and internationally standardized product codes. These codes accurately reflect the characteristics of the components collected, from bone marrow to stem cells, ensuring that healthcare providers and patients can trust in the integrity of the products they receive.
You may also be interested in: ICCBBA's Published Papers on Blood Transfusion and MPHOs
ISBT 128 is the Global Standard for the Identification, Labeling, and Traceability of Medical Products of Human Origin.
Here’s how ISBT 128 Standard supports the fight against blood cancer:
Unique Donation Tracking: Every donation, whether it’s bone marrow, white blood cells, or stem cells, is assigned a unique donation identification number. This ensures traceability from collection through transplantation, helping to maintain the safety and quality of these critical products.
Standardized Product Codes: The ISBT 128 Standard includes internationally recognized product codes that describe the type and characteristics of the donation. This allows healthcare professionals to be certain they deliver the right product to the right patient, reducing the risk of error and enhancing patient safety.
Supporting Autologous Transplants: For patients undergoing autologous transplants—where their stem cells are collected, treated externally, and then reintroduced to their body—a unique ISBT 128 code is assigned to ensure proper tracking of the patient’s own cells. This ensures that the cells collected and treated are returned to the same patient, maintaining safety and precision throughout the process.
Enhancing Global Collaboration in Transplants
Blood cancer treatments often involve international cooperation, especially when looking for suitable donors for stem cell transplants. ISBT 128’s standardized terminology enables a common language for donation and transplant centers across the globe, ensuring that products can be safely exchanged between countries, whether it’s for an urgent transplant or to fulfill a critical need for rare blood types. This seamless system is crucial to supporting patients in need of lifesaving therapies, no matter where they are located.
Blood Cancer Awareness: A Call to Action
This Blood Cancer Awareness Month, we encourage everyone to get involved. Whether by donating blood or stem cells, spreading awareness, or supporting organizations like ICCBBA that help ensure safe and reliable systems for transplantation, every action counts. Blood cancer patients rely on these treatments, and ICCBBA is proud to be part of the global effort that makes their recovery possible.
How You Can Help
Become a Donor: Register as a blood or stem cell donor. Your donation could help save the life of someone battling blood cancer.
Spread the Word: Share information about Blood Cancer Awareness Month and the importance of donations in treating these diseases.
Support ICCBBA’s Mission: Our work helps ensure that every donation is tracked, and every transplant is safe and efficient. By supporting ICCBBA, you contribute to a global effort to provide standardized, lifesaving medical products.
Learn more about ISBT 128:
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About ICCBBA:
ICCBBA is the nonprofit international standards organization responsible for the development and management of the ISBT 128 Standard.
The acronym ISBT was originally derived from the important role played by the International Society of Blood Transfusion in the development of the Standard. Today it expands as Information Standard for Blood and Transplantation. The number 128 reflects the 128 characters of the ISO/IEC 646 7-bit character set.
The acronym ICCBBA is derived from the International Council for Commonality in Blood Banking Automation.
For More Information About ICCBBA:
Media Contact:
Christina Salinas
Email: support@isbt128.org
Author
Creative Services Coordinator, ICCBBA
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