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Blood bank

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Blood bank

A blood bank is a center where blood gathered as a result of blood donation is stored and preserved for later use in blood transfusion. The term "blood bank" typically refers to a department of a hospital usually within a clinical pathology laboratory where the storage of blood product occurs and where pre-transfusion and blood compatibility testing is performed. However, it sometimes refers to a collection center, and some hospitals also perform collection. Blood banking includes tasks related to blood collection, processing, testing, separation, and storage.[citation needed]

For blood donation agencies in various countries, see list of blood donation agencies and list of blood donation agencies in the United States.

Several types of blood transfusion exist:[citation needed]

While the first blood transfusions were made directly from donor to receiver before coagulation, it was discovered that by adding anticoagulant and refrigerating the blood it was possible to store it for some days, thus opening the way for the development of blood banks. John Braxton Hicks was the first to experiment with chemical methods to prevent the coagulation of blood at St Mary's Hospital, London, in the late 19th century. His attempts, using phosphate of soda, however, were unsuccessful.[citation needed]

The first non-direct transfusion was performed on March 27, 1914, by the Belgian doctor Albert Hustin, though this was a diluted solution of blood. The Argentine doctor Luis Agote used a much less diluted solution in November of the same year. Both used sodium citrate as an anticoagulant.

The First World War acted as a catalyst for the rapid development of blood banks and transfusion techniques. Inspired by the need to give blood to wounded soldiers in the absence of a donor, Francis Peyton Rous at the Rockefeller University (then The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research) wanted to solve the problems of blood transfusion. With a colleague, Joseph R. Turner, he made two critical discoveries: blood typing was necessary to avoid blood clumping (coagulation) and blood samples could be preserved using chemical treatment. Their report in March 1915 to identify possible blood preservative was of a failure. The experiments with gelatine, agar, blood serum extracts, starch and beef albumin proved useless.

In June 1915, they made the first important report in the Journal of the American Medical Association that agglutination could be avoided if the blood samples of the donor and recipient were tested before. They developed a rapid and simple method for testing blood compatibility in which coagulation and the suitability of the blood for transfusion could be easily determined. They used sodium citrate to dilute the blood samples, and after mixing the recipient's and donor's blood in 9:1 and 1:1 parts, blood would either clump or remain watery after 15 minutes. Their result with a medical advice was clear:

[If] clumping is present in the 9:1 mixture and to a less degree or not at all in the 1:1 mixture, it is certain that the blood of the patient agglutinates that of the donor and may perhaps hemolyze it. Transfusion in such cases is dangerous. Clumping in the 1:1 mixture with little or none in the 9:1 indicates that the plasma of the prospective donor agglutinates the cells of the prospective recipient. The risk from transfusing is much less under such circumstances, but it may be doubted whether the blood is as useful as one which does not and is not agglutinated. A blood of the latter kind should always be chosen if possible.

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