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To coincide with American Red Cross recommendations, the Mayo Clinic Blood Donor Program has redefined eligibility guidelines for donors who have had a history of previous cancer diagnoses.
New Eligibility Guidelines
- Benign tumor (e.g., lipoma, adenoma, fibroma): Acceptable to donate
- Basal cell carcinoma: Deferred for four weeks after date of surgical removal
- Squamous cell carcinoma (skin, cervix, or oral cavity): Deferred for four weeks after date of surgical removal
- Malignant cancer (e.g., breast, prostate, or colon cancer and melanoma): Deferred for one year after treatment is completed
- Leukemia, Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and myeloma: Ineligible to donate permanently
- Kaposi’s sarcoma: Ineligible to donate permanently
“Worldwide, there has never been a reported case of any type of cancer being transferred via blood transfusion,” says Justin Kreuter, M.D., Medical Director of Mayo’s Blood Donor Program. “So, we recently reviewed our program’s cancer-deferral policy and updated our practice to be in line with the American Red Cross.”
The American Red Cross supplies approximately 40% of the donated blood in the United States, which it sells to hospitals and regional suppliers. Community-based blood centers supply 50%, and only 6% of blood and blood products are collected directly by hospitals.
Are These Changes Safe?
Approximately one year after most cancer treatments, the vast majority of patients will be sufficiently recovered to donate blood products.
“We continually review scientific data and medical literature on this topic—always with the best interests of our donors and recipients at the top of our list,” says Dr. Kreuter, “and as I noted earlier, zero cases have been reported in the world about transmitting cancer via blood transfusions.”
Schedule an Appointment to Donate Today
Here’s how you can schedule an appointment:
- Call the Blood Donor Center in Rochester at (77)4-4475 (Hilton Building) or (77)5-4359 (Joseph Building).
- Email donateblood@mayo.edu.
Stay Connected with the Mayo Clinic Blood Donor Center
For up-to-date information about blood-product needs and other ways you can volunteer at the Blood Donor Center in Rochester, visit the Blood Donor Center blog, the Blood Donor Center website, join the center’s internal Yammer group, and/or like the center on Facebook.
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@bartman49, I'm tagging the moderator of the Blood Donor blog, @nathanwilliamson, to make sure he sees your question about eligibility.
If you wish to connect with other members living with skin cancer, join the discussions in the
- Melanoma & Skin Cancer forum https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/melanoma-skin-cancer/
Hello, after consulting with our nursing staff, it is a four-week deferral after the date of surgical removal. If I am reading the date of this post correctly, you should be eligible now. Please give us a call at 507-284-4475 to schedule an appointment or receive clarification on any further questions. Thank you!
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2 Reactions@bartman49, I hope you saw the helpful reply from @cameronsmith about qualifying for donating blood.
I donated double reds for over 35 years 2-3 times per year and volunteered for any study requested. I'm a 180lb 6'1" male. About 10 years ago I was deferred after 4 months and 2 more times after addition 30 day intervals for low Hemoglobin. I had a Heme panel done and my Ferritin was still around 12 despite not having donated for over 6 months and it took almost a year to get it up to 24. It was very disappointing to find out that these cases have been known since the 1960's and donors were not being safeguarded. There were 2 studies of this done around this time (stride is the one I remember). The literature now supplied to donors advises donors to take Iron after donation. Sadly, I know first-hand many donors don't read this. The Netherlands does Ferritin levels on their regular donors and it is unfortunate we don't do that in the US. In 2020 I was diagnosed with Prostate cancer having 10% involvement in 1 of 12 cores. I chose watchful waiting and two years later remained at approximately 1% involvement and 2025 found no cancer. Aside from a restrictive diet, I have had no medical treatment for the cancer. In spite of the negative experience I would like to donate again but the wording in the questionnaire leads one to believe I'm eligible per the techs doing the questionnaire. I tend to think they are reading it wrong, since there is ambiguous wording in the questionnaire the techs did not understand when I pointed it out. I'd like your opinion.
I know the Red Cross like any blood donation place has policies on any blood issues. First is the donor have what they need. That is good to not have cancer. I know they do a test before donation, for me it was 25 years for platelets. My iron they checked. Let us know how it goes please.
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1 ReactionCity of Hope Duarte California.