The world's first blood transfusion happened?

Successful blood transfusion trials began in the nineteenth century and flourished in the twentieth. The story of the birth of blood transfusion hematology is associated with thrilling experiments that have caused the death of many people.

Bold ideas and deadly experiments

The idea of ​​a blood transfusion first appeared around the mid-17th century by famous physicians of this period and was recorded by a man named Stefano Infessura. According to records, in 1492, when a great figure fell ill and fell into a coma, the blood of three boys was used by the doctors to give the pope orally.

At that time, people did not fully understand the process of blood circulation and the principle of blood transfusion, but only considered blood as an important factor to feed the human body. The boys selected for blood collection were only 10 years old, after having had a significant amount of blood taken to serve the pope, had to die from blood loss.

In 1660, after William Harvey's discovery of the circulation of blood in the body, surgeons in London - England and Paris - France began to conduct experiments on blood transfusions from calves and sheep. dogs, or blood transfusions from dogs to cows, or from goats to horses. But the most remarkable experiment was the experimental blood transfusion from sheep to humans. The person chosen to participate in this experiment to receive blood from sheep was an Englishman named Arthur Coga.

The trial was successful, according to scientists at the time, because at least Arthur Coga's patient recovered for some time before dying.

Blood transfusion experiments were conducted on animals and between animals and humans.

After the daring experiment and Coga's death, in 1667, without giving up their hope, surgeons in London - England and their French collaborator Dr. Jean Baptiste Denis continued with an experiment. other experience.

Dr. Denis conducted the experiment of transferring blood from a lamb to a very sick 16-year-old boy and the experiment of transferring blood from a calf to a patient named Antoine Mauroy.

As a result, his patients all died. For a long time since blood transfusion experiments had failed in humans, it was almost impossible to conduct another risky experiment in blood transfusion.

Success after 150 years of waiting

The first success on humans only really came in the first decade of the 19th century. At that time, science had not yet discovered blood groups. The brave person to successfully conduct this experiment is obstetrician James Blundell, British.

In 1818, Dr. Blundell conducted a blood collection from the husband of a pregnant woman who had lost blood due to haemorrhage to transfer to his wife and achieved unexpected success. Since that success, between 1825 and 1830, Dr. Blundell performed 10 blood transfusions.

5 out of 10 blood transfusions have brought unexpected healing effects to the patients. Dr. Blundell also invented the blood transfusion device that is popular to this day.

Dr. Blundell conducted a blood collection from the husband of a pregnant woman who had lost blood due to haemorrhage to give it to his wife and achieved unexpected success.

After the success of Dr. Blundell, the field of hematology and blood transfusion has really developed and achieved successive successes. In 1840, at the George College of Medicine - London - England, with the help of Dr. Blundell, a student named Samuel Armstrong Lane conducted a blood transfusion to save the life of a patient suffering from hemophilia. . However, the success rate of blood transfusions is very low and depends on great luck.

It was only in 1901, when Austrian scientist Karl Landsteiner discovered blood types. The discovery of blood groups is considered an important discovery of science, because it has helped scientists do the work they have been trying for two centuries, and opened the way for development. for hematology and blood transfusion.

Transfusion of the right blood type is an extremely important thing in blood transfusion.

At this point, people realized that: In fact, the failure of previous experiments was due to the fact that the blood transfused into the patient's body was not received and eliminated due to the wrong blood type. And getting the right blood type is an extremely important thing in blood transfusion.

Blood transfusions have become much safer, and the risk of death in blood transfusions is almost zero. For this important discovery, Karl Landsteiner was awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1930.