Transfusiological Division

The various centres of the Division of Transfusiology carry out the collection of blood and blood components. They prepare transfusion products and plasma used for transfusion therapy, as well as for pharmaceutical processing. Transfusion products are exposed to ionizing radiation (prevention of post-transfusion GVHD). Furthermore, hematopoietic stem cell grafts are prepared and processed here for autologous and allogeneic transplants. Patients undergo therapeutic apheresis procedures such as plasma exchange (plasmapheresis), red blood cell exchange (erythrocytapheresis), depletion of leukocytes, erythrocytes and thrombocytes, extracorporeal photochemotherapy and IgG immunoadsorption.

The Division of Transfusiology comprises the National Reference Laboratory for Immunohematology and the Umbilical Cord Blood Bank of the Czech Republic (Czech abbreviation: BPK ČR).

The Division of Transfusiology has four cooperating departments:

• Transfusion Department
• Apheresis Department
• Department of Immunohematology
• Cell Therapy Department

The Division of Transfusiology administers national transfusion service registries:

• Registry of Persons Excluded from Blood Donation
• Registry of Rare Blood Groups Donors
• it runs the Registry of HLA and HPA typed donors

Collaborating organizations: 

• SCARF international group for the exchange of rare erythrocytes
• WAA (World Apheresis Association) – international therapeutic hemapheresis registry
• International Blood Group Reference Laboratory in Bristol
• BloodGen international consortium
• Czech Stem Cells Registry, IKEM
• 1^st and 2^nd Internal Clinic and Neurological Clinic of the General University Hospital
• 1^st and 2^nd Medical Faculty of Charles University in Prague
• transfusion departments in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Staff members of the Division of Transfusiology are involved in pregraduate and postgraduate education in transfusion medicine. Teaching involves donor and therapeutic procedures performed with the use of hemapheresis technique and preparation of hematopoietic stem cells for transplantation and cell therapy.

Pregraduate activity is focused on teaching students of the 4^th–6^th year of the 1^st Medical Faculty of Charles University in Prague. Teaching takes place in the framework of the Institute of Clinical and Experimental Hematology of the same faculty, the IHBT and the Institute for Postgraduate Medical Education (Czech abbreviation: IPVZ). The Division of Transfusiology is the venue of regular seminars.

The Division of Transfusiology is regularly inspected by the State Institute for Drug Control (Czech abbreviation: SÚKL). Laboratories of the Division of Transfusiology receive accreditation from the Czech Accreditation Institute (Czech abbreviation: ČIA).