Blood Transfusion Essay

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Blood transfusions are potentially life-saving procedure that can help replace blood lost due to surgery or injury. Every two seconds someone in the United States needs blood (Blood Facts 1). Blood has been used as a form of therapy for a variety of ailments dating back as far as the 17th century. There is no question that blood is an incredibly valuable resource. Over the years, there have been several significant advances made in not only the research of blood but also medicine. The history and research of blood transfusions has brought the discovery of blood types and the incompatibilities of said blood types. A blood transfusion is the transfer of blood or blood components from one person, the donor, into another person’s bloodstream, …show more content…

English physician William Harvey studied the hearts and blood of dogs and other animals. In 1628, he discovered and fully described the properties and circulation of blood. The discovery of circulation was an important prerequisite to blood transfusions from one animal to the same or different species. Shortly after the discovery, the first known blood transfusions took place. Many of the first blood transfusions, in animals and in humans, were unsuccessful and were fatal in humans. The first recorded successful blood transfusion took place in England in 1665. Physician Richard Lower bled a dog almost to death, then revived the dog by transfusing blood from another dog through a tied artery. Jean-Baptiste Denis, a physician to King Louis XIV, performed the transfusion of blood from an animal to a human in 1667. The blood of a sheep was transfused to a 15 year old boy, who survived the transfusion. In 1818, British obstetrician, James Blundell, successfully transfused human blood to a patient that had suffered from severe postpartum hemorrhaging. Of course, not every transfusion was a success. There were several deaths that resulted from failed transfusions. Physicians could not make sense of why the blood from one donor could keep one patient alive and be fatal to …show more content…

The blood types are determined by the presence or absence of certain antigens. Because of the antigens and the antibodies that the blood cells have, some are not compatible with the others. For example, people with type A blood will have the A antigen on the surface of their red cells. Type A blood contains an anti-B antibody, so if type B blood is transfused into a patient with type A blood, the blood will agglutinate. Individuals with type O blood do not produce ABO antigens, so they are universal donors but can only receive type O blood. The discovery of ABO blood types made blood transfusion procedures much safer for patients and greatly improved the success rate of blood

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