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The First World War as a new stage in the history of blood transfusion
- Authors: Sergeeva M.S.1
- Affiliations:
- I. M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), Moscow, Russian Federation
- Issue: No 2 (2023)
- Pages: 122-126
- Section: Articles
- URL: https://bulleten-nriph.ru/journal/article/view/3009
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.25742/NRIPH.2023.02.018
- Cite item
Abstract
Despite the popularity that the idea of blood transfusion gained in the 1860s and 1870s, this procedure entered the list of emergency care for acute blood loss only during the First World War. The uncertainty of doctors as a result of transfusion was a consequence of the lack of scientific knowledge about the biochemical and physiological properties of blood. The main problems in the clinical application of this technique were associated with blood clotting and the unpredictability of the result. The spread of xenotransfusion in the 1870s drew the attention of doctors to the existence of interspecies and group incompatibility of blood. The development of the ideas about the mechanism of hemorrhage in the 1880s stimulated the study of saline solutions as a safe and effective alternative to blood. The discovery of the enzymatic nature of blood coagulation stimulated a directed search for chemical blood preservatives. Thus, by the beginning of the First World War, there were two scientifically based methods of dealing with massive blood loss: transfusion of canned blood and infusion of saline solutions. However, the first experience of the infusion of saline solutions on the battlefield confirmed the benefits of blood transfusion, especially with the compatibility of the blood group.
About the authors
Marya S. Sergeeva
I. M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), Moscow, Russian FederationReferences
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