Transfusion Medicine

Blood Donation

• More than 90 % of the total collection is from voluntary blood donation camps conducted annually with 100% of total collection being separated into blood components.
• Besides meeting the demands for the transfusion support for patients in BMT, unit, Hematolymphoid unit, solid tumour unit, pediatric oncology unit as well as surgical oncology unit in ACTREC,it also caters to the requirements of patients admitted at other hospitals and nursing homes in Navi Mumbai.

Apheresis Procedures

• Advanced procedures like Plateletpheresis, Leucapheresis for hematopoietic stem cell collection and Granulocytopheresis are being carried out by usage of automated blood cell separators.
• Annually 2000 plateletpheresis procedures, approximately 200 blood haematopoietic stem cell collection procedures , over 20 granulocytapheresis procedures and over 20 lymphocyte collections for CAR-T production are being performed using different apheresis devices.
• The department has the facility to store only licensed blood components.

Component Preparation

We have a dedicated area for component preparation and storage for Packed Red Blood Cell, Fresh Frozen Plasma, Cryoprecipitate and Random Donor Platelets.

Leukodepletion

Nearly 50% of the total blood collection from each camp are being leukodepleted using filter to meet the demands of the Haematolymphoid patients.

Stem Cell Manipulation Procedures

• The department in association with allied departments perform advanced stem cell manipulation procedures like CD45RA depletion, Alpha Beta and CD 19 depletion etc. Currently 2 enrichment and 4 depletion protocols has been standardized. Annually approximately 20 stem cell manipulation procedures are being performed.

Irradiation Facility

The department is also equipped with two Gamma Blood irradiators to provide irradiated blood components to the needy patients.

Transfusion Transmitted Infection Testing

All the donated blood and SDP units are being tested by Chemiluminescence assay before reserving the unit for transfusion.

Immunohaematology Laboratory

Our department is also technically equipped in performance of advanced immunohaematological procedures using different fully automated platforms available like resolving Drug Discrepancies, complete Pre Daratumumab patient profiling and resolving discrepancies caused by Daratumumab, resolving Immunohaematological discrepancies due to multiple allo and auto antibody association, AIHA workup and Serological Monitoring of Pre and Post Haematopoietic Stem cell transplant Recipient. Annually over 20 Daratumumab discrepancy work up is being performed besides routine testing like blood grouping, ABO antibody titre and patient anti body identification, Elution and Adsorption methods

Quality Control Laboratory

The Department is well equipped in performance of dedicated Quality control of all blood products are performed as per regulatory standards. The department stands uniform in performance of bacterial testing of all blood components (Leukodepleted Packed Red Blood Cells and Single Donor Platelets) supplied to all BMT and Haematolymphoid Patients using BAC-T Alert System.

• Each Year 2 Junior Residents are being posted in ACTREC as a part of their MD curriculum. In total currently we have 6 Junior Residents posted in ACTREC. All the residents rotate through various laboratories. The participation of the students in all facets of educational process is essential. Every candidate takes part in seminars, grand rounds, case demonstration, journal review meeting and clinical meetings. They have a mentor who guides them through their dissertation
• Every month one PGDMLT students are also being posted in different areas of DTM, ACTREC in a rotation manner for a period of 15 days as a part of their course curriculum
• The department successfully runs 1 year Non Bonded Senior Residency Programme
• The department has also got approval to start 1 year TMC fellowship programme titled "Cellular Therapy in Transfusion Medicine” for post MD doctors

• Shashank Ojha, Vijaya Patle, P. Nagaraju, Navin Khattry. Blood components utilization in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: Thirteen-year analysis from an apex oncology center of India. Asian Journal of Transfusion Science 2023 Jul-Dec;17(2):221-228.
• Deep Madkaiker,Sumathi S H,P Chavan, Shashank Ojha, JMendes, S Shastry. 'Ironing out the risk': Assessing the effect of plateletpheresis donation frequency on iron stores in South-Asian male donors . Vox Sanguinis 2023; 118:921–929.
• Anant Gokarn, P R.Tembhare,H Syed,I Sanyal,R Kumar,S Parab,T Khanka,S Punatar,S Kedia,S G.Ghogale,N Deshpande,YNikam,K Girase,S Mirgh,N Jindal,B Bagal,A Chichra,LNayak,A Bonda,S Rath,S Hiregoudar,M Poojary,S Saha,ShashankOjha,P G.Subramanian, N Khattry. Long-Term Cryopreservation of Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Harvest Using Low Concentration (4.35%) Dimethyl Sulfoxide with Methyl Cellulose and UncontrolledRateFreezingat-80°C: An Effective Option in Resource-Limited Settings. Transplantation and CellularTherapy 29(2023) 777.e1 -777.e8
• Shashank Ojha , Minal Poojary , Umakant Mokalikar,, S H Sumathi, Arun Kumar , Abhay M Gupta , Suryatapa Saha. The determinants of donor safety and product quality in optimization of apheresis granulocyte harvest: An experience from a tertiary care oncology centre in India. Transfusion and Apheresis Science 61(2022):103445.
• S. Ojha, A.M. Gupta, P Nagaraju, M Poojary, A Ravatale. Platelet donation awareness with donor motivation and recruitment drives: a unique concept to enhance voluntary plateletph