BLOOD BANKS HEMORRHAGING RED CROSS GOT MORE THAN IT COULD STORE IN RESPONSE TO TERRORIST ATTACKS.

Byline: Dominic Berbeo Staff Writer

Americans have donated so much blood since the terrorist attacks Sept. 11 that American Red Cross officials have had to dispose of some, officials said Thursday.

Normal donations nationwide average about 20,000 units, or pints, per day. But from Sept. 11 to Oct. 30, more than one million units came in, and some had to be discarded because it decayed, according to the Red Cross.

The nonprofit agency estimates that less than 10 percent of the blood donations have gone unused.

``We're not able to say exactly how much has been disposed of,'' said Red Cross spokeswoman Blythe Kubina. ``But it's a very small percentage.''

But in Los Angeles, which has a low ratio of donors versus need, the trend is different, and most of the extra blood has been used.

Roughly half the blood used in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area is normally imported from other parts of the country, according to Red Cross officials.

Since air traffic was shut down in the week after Sept. 11, the normal supplies were cut off for Southern California. The large intake of extra donations by Californians was enough to put blood bank levels just above normal, said Julie Juliusson, a Red Cross spokeswoman.

The Red Cross Southern California Region normally collects some 5,333 units of blood weekly, but that more than doubled to 11,526 during the week of Sept. 11, she said. The region normally imports some 4,000 units per week via air.

Also, Red Cross officials have given out pledge cards to more than 10,000 would-be donors in Southern California to give blood later on, Juliusson said.

While some blood has gone unused, many of the donations have lived on. Blood is only one element of a donation: donated blood goes through a process of being broken down into three parts, which are used separately.

Red blood cells - the bulk of blood - benefit patients with chronic anemia or acute blood loss and usually have a shelf life of 42 days. They're rarely frozen, which can extend shelf life to as long as 10 years.

Plasma, which is usually frozen and can last up to a year in that state, goes to patients with severe liver disease, clotting deficiencies or serious burns.

Platelets can last only five days, and they are usually in high demand and completely used for patients undergoing cancer therapy for cancer, including leukemia and aplastic anemia, or recovering after organ and bone marrow transplants.

Juliusson said that 1 percent to 2 percent of red blood cells usually go unused, but the agency is developing a new facility in Irvine - to be completed within the next six weeks - that will be able to freeze thousands of units of blood.