Transfusion Medicine

Jeffrey McCullough

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781119599531
• eBook ISBN: 9781119599562
• Edition: 5
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Hematology

Explore this concise and clinically focused approach to the field of blood banking and transfusion therapy  

The Fifth Edition of Transfusion Medicine delivers a succinct, thorough, clinically focused, practical and authoritative treatment of a full range of topics in transfusion therapy. This ranges from issues with the blood supply, recruitment of both whole blood and apheresis donors, blood collection and storage, blood testing, blood safety, and transmissible diseases. This edition has been fully updated and revised to include exciting cellular therapies for cancer, transplantation of both hematopoietic cells and solid organs, infectious diseases and regenerative medicine.       

The Fifth Edition includes new authors with highly relevant content that provides a solid grounding for readers in the field. The book:  

• Is an approachable comprehensive guide to the field of blood banking and transfusion medicine 
• Provides complete and timely perspective on  crucial topics, including the HLA system in transfusion medicine and transplantation and quality programs in blood banking and transfusion medicine 
• Is extensively referenced, making it simple for readers to conduct further research on the topics of interest to them  
• Includes new chapters on pediatric transfusion medicine and pathogen reduction  
• Has an expended chapter on patient blood management 
• Provides extensive discussions of the clinical use of blood transfusion in a wide variety of clinical situations including recent development In the management of acute traumatic blood loss   
• Provides updated information about blood groups and molecular testing making inroads into clinical practice along with discussions of laboratory detection of blood groups and provision of red cells  

Perfect for all those working in the field of blood banking, transfusion medicine and hematology or oncology and fellows in pathology, hematology, surgery and anesthesiology. Transfusion Medicine is a good introduction for technologists specializing in blood banking and non-medical personnel working in areas related to hematology and transfusion medicine. Transfusion Medicine will also earn a place in the libraries of practicing pathologists with responsibility for  blood banks. 

1
History

Jeffrey McCullough MD

1.1 Ancient times

For centuries, blood has been considered to have mystical properties and has been associated with vitality. In ancient times, bathing in or drinking the blood of the strong was thought to invigorate the weak. For instance, among Ancient Romans it was customary to rush into the arena to drink the blood of dying gladiators [1]; among others, to drink or bathe in blood was thought to cure a variety of ailments [2]. Bleeding was practiced to let out bad blood and restore the balance of humors, thus hopefully returning the patient to health.

It is not known when and by whom the idea of transfusing blood was developed. It is said that the first transfusion was given to Pope Innocent VIII in 1492. According to this legend, the Pope was given the blood of three boys, whose lives were thus sacrificed in vain [1, 3] because the attempts did not save the Pope. In another version of the story, the blood was intended to be used in a tonic for the Pope, which he refused, thus sparing the boys’ lives [2]. Ironically, the concept of transfusion blood from younger donors to revitalize older individuals has reappeared recently, although without any scientific background or basis.

1.2 The period 1500–1700

Others to whom the idea for blood transfusion is attributed include Hieronymus Cardanus (1501–1576) and Magnus Pegelius. Little is known about Cardanus, but Pegelius was a professor at Rostock, Germany, who supposedly published a book describing the idea and theory of transfusion [1]. It can be substantiated that Andreas Libavius (1546–1616) proposed blood transfusion in 1615 when he wrote:

Let there be a young man, robust, full of spirituous blood, and also an old man, thin, emaciated, his strength exhausted, hardly able to retain his soul. Let the performer of the operation have two silver tubes fitting into each other. Let him enter the artery of the young man, and put into it one of the tubes, fastening it in. Let him immediately open the artery of the old man and put the female tube into it, and then the two tubes being joined together, the hot and spirituous blood of the young man will pour into the old one as it were from a fountain of life, and all of this weakness will be dispelled [1].

Despite these possibilities, it also seems unlikely that the concept of transfusing blood could have developed before William Harvey’s description of the circulation in 1616. Despite Harvey’s description of the circulatory system, there is no evidence that he considered blood transfusion. However, the concept of the “circulation” may have preceded Harvey’s publication. For instance, Andrea Cesalpino (1519–1603), an Italian, used the expression “circulation” and proposed that fine vessels (capillaries) connected the arterial and venous systems [1, 4].

A number of the major developments that led to the beginning of blood transfusion occurred during the mid‐1600s [1]. In 1656, Christopher Wren, assisted by Robert Boyle, developed techniques to isolate veins in dogs and carried out many studies of the effects of injecting substances into the dogs. It is not clear whether Wren ever carried out blood transfusion between animals. The first successful transfusion from one animal to another probably was done by Richard Lower [1, 5, 6]. Lower [6] demonstrated at Oxford the bleeding of a dog until its strength was nearly gone, but then revitalized the previously moribund dog by exchange transfusion using blood from two other dogs, resulting in the death of the donor animals.

Subsequently, a controversy developed over who had first done a transfusion. In 1669, Lower contended that he had published the results of transfusion in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in December 1666. In 1667, Jean Denis of France described his experiments in animals and applied the technique to human, which Lower had accomplished only in animals. Others mentioned as possibly having carried out animal‐to‐animal transfusions about this time are Johann‐Daniel Major of Cologne, Johann‐Sigismund Elsholtz of Berlin, don Robert de Gabets (a monk) in France, Claude Tardy of Paris, and Cassini and Griffone in Italy [1].

Denis apparently was a brilliant young professor of philosophy and mathematics at Montpellier and physician to Louis XIV. In 1667, Denis carried out what is believed to be the first transfusion of animal (lamb’s) blood to a human. A 15‐year‐old boy with a long‐standing fever who had been bled multiple times received about 9 ounces of blood from the carotid artery of a lamb connected to the boy’s arm vein. Following the transfusion, the boy changed from a stuporous condition to a clear and smiling countenance. During the next several months, Denis may have given transfusions to three other individuals [1]. The second patient, Antoine Mauroy, was an active 34‐year‐old who spent some of his time carousing in Paris. It was thought that blood from a gentle calf might dampen Mauroy’s spirits. On December 19, 1667, he received with no untoward effects 5 or 6 ounces of blood from the femoral artery of a calf. Several days later, the procedure was repeated. During the second transfusion, Mauroy experienced pain in the arm receiving the blood, vomiting, increased pulse, a nosebleed, pressure in the chest, and pain over the kidneys; the next day he passed black urine. This is probably the first reported hemolytic transfusion reaction. Mauroy died about 2 months later without further transfusions. Reportedly, members of the Faculty of Medicine who were opposed to transfusion and hated Denis bribed Mauroy’s wife to state that he had died during the transfusion [1]. Denis was tried for manslaughter but was exonerated. It was later revealed that Mauroy’s wife had been poisoning him with arsenic and that was the actual cause of his death [7]. Also in late 1667, Lower performed a human transfusion before the Royal Society in England. The man received 9–10 ounces of blood from the artery of a sheep and was said to have “found himself very well” afterward [1]. However, the death of Mauroy was used by Denis’s enemies as an excuse to issue an edict in 1668 that banned the practice of transfusion unless the approval of the Faculty of Medicine in Paris was obtained. This series of events led to the discontinuation of transfusion experiments, but more importantly to the abandonment of the study of the physiology of circulation for approximately 150 years [1].

1.3 The 1800s

Interest in transfusion was revived during the early 1800s, primarily by James Blundell [8], a British obstetrician who believed it would be helpful in treating postpartum hemorrhage. Blundell carried out animal experiments and avoided the error of using animal blood because of the advice of a colleague, Dr. John Leacock. Blundell reported to the Medico‐Chirurgical Society of London on December 22, 1818, the first human‐to‐human transfusion. It is not clear whether the transfusions given by Blundell were ever successful clinically [1]. However, Blundell’s [8] contributions were very substantial. Unfortunately, his warnings about the dangers of transfusing animal blood into humans were not generally heeded.

Dr. Andrei Wolff carried out a human‐to‐human transfusion in St. Petersburgh, Russia, in 1832, having learned of blood transfusion from Dr. Blundell on a previous visit to London [9]. There is no evidence of additional transfusion in Russia ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contributors
• Preface
• 1 History
• 2 The Blood Supply
• 3 Recruitment of Blood Donors
• 4 Blood Donor Medical Assessment, Collection, and Complications
• 5 Preparation, Storage, and Characteristics of Whole Blood, Blood Components, and Plasma Derivatives
• 6 Production of Components by Apheresis
• 7 Laboratory Testing of Donated Blood
• 8 Blood Groups
• 9 Laboratory Detection of Blood Groups and Provision of Red Cells
• 10 Clinical Uses of Blood Components
• 11 Transfusion Therapy in Specific Clinical Situations
• 12 Patient Blood Management
• 13 Pediatric Transfusion Medicine
• 14 Pathogen Reduced Blood Products
• 15 Techniques of Blood Transfusion
• 16 Complications of Transfusion
• 17 Transfusion‐Transmitted Diseases
• 18 The HLA System in Transfusion Medicine and Transplantation
• 19 Cellular Engineering
• 20 Therapeutic Apheresis
• 21 Quality Programs in Blood Banking and Transfusion Medicine
• Index
• End User License Agreement