Donated platelets enable groundbreaking brain surgery

Over 100 units of donated platelets have made groundbreaking brain tumour surgery possible for a teenager with an extremely rare blood disorder.

Ahmed, 17, has Bernard-Soulier syndrome, a rare inherited disorder he was diagnosed with not long after birth. Bernard-Soulier affects platelet function and the blood's ability to form clots.

So, when he needed surgery for a pineal brain tumour, it came with a major risk of catastrophic bleeding. He was diagnosed with the tumour in 2023 after experiencing double vision and sadly, chemotherapy did not stop it from growing.

(Picture: Ahmed, 17, has Bernard-Soulier syndrome)

Ahmed needed platelet transfusions to make the 13-hour procedure possible, but to complicate matters, these needed to be carefully matched against his tissue types.

Tests showed he had developed antibodies against past transfusions, meaning he needed to be given more closely matching platelets to reduce the risk of his immune system rejecting them.

In the weeks before his surgery at Sheffield Children's Hospital, Ahmed underwent plasma exchange treatment with NHS Blood and Transplant's regional Therapeutic Apheresis Services team to reduce the antibodies affecting transfusions.

Ahmed was given 113 units of platelets, including 10 units for the operation and 24 for the recovery.

Kirti Mepani, Clinical Scientist Section Head at NHS Blood and Transplant Colindale, said: "Platelets are essential for blood clotting and are especially important in people with Bernard-Soulier syndrome, where the body cannot form clots properly.

(Picture: Mr Veejay Bagga, who led the surgery)

"Ahmed is from a minority ethnic background, which can make it more difficult to find closely matched donors because some groups are under-represented in the donor base.

"This was a very high-risk operation that required close coordination between the clinical team, the hospital blood bank and NHS Blood and Transplant to ensure the right platelets were available.
"I am incredibly proud that our team was able to supply the carefully matched platelets needed to make the surgery possible."

Hospital demand for platelets is growing, meaning each of our 25 donor centres has asked for 2,000 new donors to come forward this year.

There is a particular need for donors with A negative, AB negative and A positive blood types.

To find out more about platelet donation, visit the platelets website.