Blood Transfusions in WWI

• A O A B

  The main blood groups
• Blood transfusions have been attempted in the past between humans and with animals, but the animal transfusions always failed</b>
• Problems of blood transfusion that needed to be overcome


  • Rejection
  • Storage
  • Donor and patient needed to be together
• Rejection


  Some blood transfusions worked, while others caused terrible reactions in patients
• Storage


  Blood couldn't be kept in bottles as it would clot into an unusable goo
• Donor and patient together

  Donor and patient needed to be side by side during early blood transfusions to prevent clotting
• Austrian Dr Carl Landsteiner discovered the existence of the three blood groups A, B, and O


  1901
• A fourth blood group, AB, was discovered


  1902
• Reuben Ottenberg, an American doctor, was the first to match a donor and recipient's blood type before a transfusion


  1907
• Group O


  Universal blood group that could be used with any blood group
• Clotting


  Blood coagulates or clots as soon as it leaves the body, which could block the tubes used to collect or transfuse blood
• British scientist Ulmworth Wright concluded that a soluble solution of certain acids could prevent clotting, but believed there was no way to prevent the resulting convulsions once the blood was transfused


  1894
• Sodium citrate

  Added to blood, it stopped blood clotting with few side effects on the patient, allowing blood to be stored for longer
• American Doctor Richard Lewerson discovered that adding sodium citrate to blood stopped clotting


  1915
• Richard Vile discovered that blood could be refrigerated and stored for 48 hours without going off


  1915
• Francis Rouse and James Turner found that by adding citrate glucose solution, blood could be stored for up to four weeks


  1916
• At the Battle of Cambray, British-born American doctor Oswald Hope Robinson brought a bank of 22 units of universal blood in ice-refrigerated ammunition boxes, some of which was 26 days old, and treated 20 wounded Canadian soldiers, 11 of whom survived


  1917
• Indirect method


  Blood was syringe from the donor and then put into the patient, reducing the risk of death from shock
• Transfusions became a standard treatment for shock at Casualty Clearing Stations

  1917
• Portable transfusion kit


  Developed by British doctor of the Royal Army Medical Corps Lieutenant Jeffrey Keane, it regulated the flow of blood to prevent clotting, but could not use stored blood as it had to be kept fresh
• World War One helped accelerate existing progress in the field of blood transfusions, solving the three main problems of rejection, storage, and the need for the patient and donor to be together