News & Events | Press Release: Puget Sound Blood Center Makes Area Blood Supply Even Safer

NOVEMBER 30, 2005, SEATTLE WA — Puget Sound Blood Center becomes the first blood center in the nation to use the Abbott PRISM blood screening system. In using this cutting edge technology the Blood Center is making our community’s already safe blood supply even safer.

To celebrate the successful first run of screening tests, Puget Sound Blood Center Dr. Mike Strong, Executive Vice President of Operations, Sandy Linauts, Vice President of Blood Service Labs and others will address employees at Blood Center’s Processing and Testing Laboratories located in Renton. The celebration takes place at 12:30pm, Thursday, December 1, 2005 at the lab, located at 501 SW 39th Street, Renton, WA 98055. Media are welcome to attend the celebration. Interviews and visuals will be available at the Renton facility.

Background
Before a donated unit of blood enters the blood supply, it undergoes component separation processes as well as extensive testing for infectious diseases. Abbott’s PRISM System is the world’s first fully automated blood-screening instrument. It’s technology heightens detection of potential infectious agents above any previous levels. For certain diseases, the PRISM instrument will allow the Blood Center to process a high number of tests with very little manual intervention, lessening the need for retesting due to variations in the previous testing system, enhancing the efficiency of our services and ensuring donated units get out to the hospitals and facilities that need them.

Because Puget Sound Blood Center screens blood for a number of other blood centers, the blood supplies in Hawaii, Alaska, and parts of Oregon and California will also be that much safer. PRISM has proven itself to be a precision testing tool in 30 countries where it is already in use. According to Abbott Laboratories, half of these countries use the PRISM system to screen 100 percent of their blood donations. PRISM is now FDA approved for use in this country.

PRISM is so precise, the combination of PRISM and the licensed HBV NAT (in place beginning August 2005) will allow us to potentially bring healthy donors who reacted to the Hepatitis B Core Antibody tests in the past, back into the donor pool. Over the past 10-years over 5200 donors reacted to the two separate occasions to this test, forcing these donors who appeared to be otherwise healthy, to be permanently deferred. Beginning sometime after the start of 2006, we will send out notification to many of these people, requesting they come in, fill out the required paperwork and undergo testing. Due to the specificity and sensitivity of the new screening tests, many of these people will be able to donate blood again. For many of these people the previous test reactions were caused by cross reactivity to non-specific antibodies.

Innovation at Puget Sound Blood Center
Celebrating over 60 years of innovation, the Blood Center has a long and unique tradition of blending community volunteerism, medical science and research to improve patients’ lives. As a national and international leader in our field, PRISM is yet another demonstration of Puget Sound Blood Center’s commitment to the highest standards, leading our industry with our research and technology.
The Blood Center, which serves patients in more than 70 hospitals and clinics in 14 counties with blood services, provides tissue and transplantation support to 185 hospitals across the Northwest. For more information on Puget Sound Blood Center please see our Web site at www.psbc.org.
For more information on Abbott Laboratories see their Web site at http://www.abbott.com/index.cfm.
If you have any questions regarding the event contact Tom Butterworth at 206-292-6511 or pager 206-680-2610. To contact the Renton Lab facility call (425) 656-3001.

South on I - 5 for approximately 10.7 miles.
Exit to the left at EXIT 154A - 405 NORTH / RENTON (go slowly on ramp - ramp is a large curve).
Proceed East on 405 approximately 2 miles to EXIT 2 - KENT { 167 }, EXIT TO THE RIGHT.
Proceed south on 167 for approximately 2 miles.
Stay in right lane and EXIT at E. Valley Rd/ S. 180th.
At the light (at end of exit) proceed straight across to SW 41st ST.
At the next light TURN RIGHT onto LIND AVE. SW.
Proceed one block and TURN LEFT onto SW. 39th .
Proceed on SW 39th to approximately middle of the block. Driveway is on the left