SYNTHETIG BLOOD

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 82, 3 October 1931, Page 22

SYNTHETIG BLOOD

■ Using, a. formula recently developed by; a French scientist working in IndoChina,,' some interesting, operations, involving .the : uso of a synthetic blood injected directly into the veins of patients who, for one reason or another, haye lost*such.quantities of their own blood -that they; are on the point of; death, or in a.very much run-down condition,' are bie'ing performed with what are. said to be wonderful results, by an American: surgoon. The experimenter isiDr.? John'E. Summers, whddu cmergencieV hag 'used this synthetic blood in' place of blood transfusions, although he .considers (that nothing fully can i take the place of good pure blood. . -In an article in a'recent issue of the Nebraska::"State Medical Journal^" JDr: ..Sumn'ie.rs states that he has used this blood in 19 cases, and m every one the results have been <fstrikingly favourable." / The discovery, is so recent that nonoi cfjthe grpat American laboratories had ' pven-rheaVd of the synthetic blood; ■Wh'enthe: Omaha surgeou wrote to'them £or;a! supply." They, did not take very kindly to the idea, and it was only by, insistence that he was successful iv having two of the ■ big laboratories make1,, him .a supply of the artificial blood'froin the formula he furnished. Finally this was made iip and furnished gratuitously for experimental purposes only :gnd' not ;tb: be commercialised. Eventually Dr. Summers was able to obtain a small quantity from Paris as made by the, representatives of the disroVe'rer.:'■.', ? ' '■"-..■'■ ■• "■■■ ■■ : Following, the, receipt of these'supplies,; there, has been a number of . operations which'- have caused tremendous interest among medical men. Here .is : one of these cases, taken partly frbni the police reports and partly from Ihe.reports of the hospital where the operation was.' performed. , ■'; A';, professional idancer and pabarbt . eiitor^ainer in'a fight with a rival received ', * dagger cut of the left lung and heart. : Death usually results from j»b; injufy to: the ;heart, but in this case the • woman was • not dead when' Dr. Sortmers-/arrived.. However, she had . itisVsb'much blood that, death was imminent from-that cause. Dr. Summers eewed 'up the cut ,in ; the >: heart and •topEcd further losi of blood. A transfusion, was;; not possible. There was

A MEDICAL MARVEL

not time for a transfusion oven if an individual with matched blood could have been- found upon such short notice. Death, was too near. So syn-thetic-blood was injected into the woman's veins. '.'.'•. The' effect was almost magical. Improvement was immediate, and the woman grew stronger. Pneumonia doyelbped, but the synthetic blood gave her.' sufficient strength to overcome this'complication. In two weeks she was convalescent and out of danger. Dr. Summers credits the synthetic blood with the cure. In the Douglas County Hospital, of which.Dr. Summers is chief of staff, there were several advanced cases of cancer. Because of their weakened conditions these patients could not be operated upon, so they were given injections of the synthetic blood and their improvement was so great that the necessary operations were carried out. The synthetic Wood is not a cancer cure, by any means, but it has given theso patients sufficient strength tfli.yithstand the operations, ; -In. .the same hospital there were three desperate emergency eases of internal haemorrhage of women, and another such case in th« University Hospital 'of the -. University of Nebraska College of Medicine, where Dr. Summers is professor of clinical surgery. Dr. Summers operated upon all four, injecting the synthetic blood directly into the veins of those patients, and the four lives were saved. The saying of these lives can, in a great'measure, only be attributed to the.use of this solution. More and-more members of the medical profession are coming to realise the importance of blood transfusion in the saving of life (writes T. B. Porter in the , "San Francisco Chronicle"). This-synthetic blood is known technically as Normet ; solution, named after Dr. Normet, the- French scientist who developed the formula. The solution can be •; carried • around in an ampulei (a■• sterile'l,bottle), and it does not deteriorate, for it is sterile. It is not expensive, especially' when compared with - the : .price''of the natural blood of a donor. It "mixes" with ■the blood of any •■ patient, and no '' matching'^ -nor "typing "is necessary. '■■"': "■'■' '■■•■■■• ■, '■ ■'■