History of the Transfusion

• In 1667, a French doctor named Jean-Baptiste Denis was the first to record a direct human blood transfusion. However, for a few centuries, the practice was very dangerous; blood types were not discovered until 1901, when a German scientist named Karl Landsteiner identified three basic blood groups. In 1915, an American named Richard Lewison began using sodium citrate as an anticoagulant, which allowed blood transfusion to become an indirect rather than direct process.
  
  

The American Blood Bank

• "Blood depots" were established in Europe during World War I, and by the late 1930s, blood banks were becoming established in American cities such as Chicago and San Francisco. In 1940, Dr. Charles Drew of Columbia Presbyterian Hospital created the integral blood banking technique of separating red blood cells from plasma and freezing the two substances separately. After the war, many physicians began advocating blood banks, and by 1948, the Red Cross had begun work on a program to organize the distribution of blood. By 1962, there were thousands of blood banks in America.
  
  

Processing

• Blood generally must be stored at a low temperature, from 1C to -80C. However, some components (platelets, for example) should not be refrigerated. "Whole blood," or blood that has not yet been separated, is either stored "whole" or separated by centrifuge. The dense red blood cells are treated with an additive, and the less dense plasma is frozen for its various uses. The "buffy coat," or the thin, yellow layer of leukocytes between the red blood cells and plasma, is sometimes used to make platelets for transfusions.
  
  

Regulation

• The FDA maintains strict regulations on blood banks, as they are engaged in a form of interstate commerce, their facilities are regulated federally. Their records, equipment, personnel, methods of disposal, laboratories, labeling processes and storage units are closely monitored according to a set of uniform guidelines. The average blood bank performs more than 10 tests on each unit of donated blood.
  
  

Statistics

• In America, more than 30,000 units of blood are used every day. One out of every 10 patients in a hospital needs a blood transfusion. While more than half of the United States population is eligible to donate blood, only 3 to 5 percent donates at least once a year. The body replaces donated red blood cells within three weeks, but it takes six weeks to replace the lost iron. Victims of serious accidents or major blood loss often need up to 50 units of blood at a time, and 20 units of blood and 120 units of platelets are needed for the average bone marrow transplant.