Future trends in blood component preparation.

In the coming years, blood banking and transfusion medicine are expected to undergo a number of changes in areas such as the refinement of plasma fractionation, advanced pheresis techniques and in the improvement of safety of blood products. In addition, recombinant DNA technology is believed to hold much promise as an alternate source of plasma proteins and within 5-10 years will probably replace at least several plasma derivatives. Substitutes for red cells and platelets, although more difficult to develop, may also become available in the future. These developments will affect the need for and the supply of blood in times to come. It is expected that the traditional supply system will continue to function for many more years but will most likely have increasing difficulty to meet the enlarged demand for safe products and to compete with the progress of biotechnology.