Anne Truong MDMen's Sexual Health Doctor

How to Harvest Platelets

1 Jan 2023 · 1 min

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0:49

A brief spoken explanation of how platelets are obtained via a blood draw. The speaker contrasts routine lab blood draws (1–3 small tubes ≈2 cc each) with platelet-harvesting draws used for healing, which are larger (typically ~11–22 cc, possibly up to ~30 cc). A unit conversion (1 ounce ≈30 mL/cc) is also given.

Questions this video answers

About one to three tubes, each about 2 cc (approx. one tablespoon total per tube).

Typically about 11 cc to 22 cc, with a maximum maybe 30 cc.

One ounce is 30 milliliters (cc).

Chapters

How do we get platelets from your blood? Well, you get the platelets from your blood by just as if you get a blood draw, you go to the lab and you draw your blood. And normally in the lab, if you get like a typical cholesterol or blood sugar test, they take about maybe like one or two tubes, maybe three tubes, and each tube is about 2cc, so maybe one tablespoon of blood. However, when you're trying to harvest out platelets from your body that is used for healing, normally most platelets draw maybe about 11 cc to 22 cc maximum, maybe 30 cc. One ounce is 30 milliliter or cc of blood.