History of Blood Transfusion
History of Blood Transfusion
By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MD
Reviewed by Sally Robertson, B.Sc.
The first research into blood transfusion dates back to the 17th Century when
British physician William Harvey fully described the circulation and properties
of blood in 1628. The first blood transfusions were also attempted around this
time, although these were often unsuccessful and proved fatal in humans.
The first successful blood transfusion recorded was performed by British
physician Richard Lower in 1665 when he bled a dog almost to death and
then revived the animal by transfusing blood from another dog via a tied
artery.
In 1667, JeanBaptiste Denis who was physician to King Louis XIV, performed
the transfusion of blood from an animal to a human. Denis transfused the
blood from a sheep to a 15year old boy and later to a labourer, both of whom
survived the transfusions.
In 1818, British obstetrician James Blundell successfully transfused human
blood to a patient who had hemorrhaged during childbirth. In 1901, Karl
Landsteiner, an Austrian physician discovered the first human blood groups,
which helped transfusion to become a safer practice. By performing
experiments in which he mixed blood samples taken from his staff,
Landsteiner discovered blood groups A, B and O and established the basic
principals of ABO compatibility. In 1907, an American surgeon called Reuben
Ottenberg suggested that patient and donor blood should be grouped and
cross matched before a blood transfusion procedure.
Between 1914 and 1918, anticoagulants such as sodium citrate were found to
prolong the shelf life of blood and refrigeration also proved to be an effective
means of preserving blood. In the 1920’s and 30’s, the voluntary donation of
blood for storage and use was started. At around the same time, Edwin Cohn
developed cold ethanol fractionation, a method of breaking down blood into
its component parts to obtain albumin, gamma globulin and fibrinogen, for
example.
During the Second World War, blood transfusion was used on a large scale to
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History of Blood Transfusion
treat injured soldiers and became well known as a life saving procedure.
Sources
1. www.redcrossblood.org/learnaboutblood/historybloodtransfusion
2. http://www.blood.co.uk/aboutblood/history/
3. http://www.ishim.net/Articles/Blood%20Transfusion%20in%20His
tory.pdf
4. https://www.bbts.org.uk/news/latest_news/the_timeline__blood
_donation/
Further Reading
All Blood Transfusion Content
What is a Blood Transfusion?
Blood Transfusion Precautions
Blood Transfusion Substitutes
Last Updated: Feb 26, 2019
Written by
Dr. Ananya Mandal
Dr. Ananya Mandal is a doctor by profession, lecturer by vocation and a medical
writer by passion. She specialized in Clinical Pharmacology after her bachelor's
(MBBS). For her, health communication is not just writing complicated reviews for
professionals but making medical knowledge understandable and available to the
general public as well.
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