This National Research and Demonstration Center will be directed toward the acquisition of new basic and clinical knowledge about transfusion transmitted diseases, toward lowering the risks for patients through development and application of measures which can be applied to the blood resource and its management; toward reducing the exposure to risks of patients who must be transfused, through the use of safer, higher efficacy protocols; and toward the elimination of transfusion in other cases. Through demonstrations and education, the Center will test the effectiveness of a program to conserve blood and reduce donor exposure by increasing physician awareness of the dangers of transfusion, and by accelerating the inclusion of safer modalities for patients who must be transfused, specifically by seeking to increase the use of autologous blood and the vigorous practice of state-of-the-art conservation. The SCOR component includes 5 research projects, four of which will study aspects of blood borne infectious agents, including AIDS, HTLV, CMV and HB. The fifth will investigate national trends in transfusion practice with the view to analyzing national policy alternatives and providing reliable information about use of the national blood resource to the public. The Integration Component of the NRDC will function to provide overall management and direction of the Center and unify its programmatic thrust toward reducing the risk of transfusion transmitted infections for patients who become candidates for transfusion; conserve the blood resource, thus moderating the demands upon blood donors to give blood; and, for those patients who are chronically dependent upon blood or blood components, to increase the safety and efficacy of the products they need.
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