The History of Blood Transfusions

1628: English physician, William Harvey, discovers the circulation of blood. Shortly afterward, the earliest known blood transfusion is attempted.

1665: The first recorded successful blood transfusion occurs in England. Physician Richard Lower kept dogs alive by transfusing blood from other dogs.

1795: In Philadelphia, Philip Syng Physick, an American physician, performs the first human blood transfusion, although he did not publish this information.

1818: James Blundell, a British obstetrician, performs the first successful transfusion of human blood to a patient for the treatment of postpartum hemorrhage. Using the patient's husband as a donor, he extracts approximately four ounces of blood from the husband's arm and, using a syringe, successfully transfuses the wife. Between 1825 and 1830, he performs 10 transfusions, five of which prove beneficial to his patients. He publishes these results.

1900: Karl Landsteiner, an Australian physician, discovers the first three human blood groups (A, B, and O). The fourth, AB is added by his colleagues Decastello and Sturli in 1902. Lansteiner receives the Nobel Prize for Medicine for his discovery in 1930.

1907: Hektoen suggest that the safety of transfusion might be improved by crossmatching blood between donors and patients to exclude incompatible mixtures. Reuben Ottenber performs the first blood transfusion using typing and crossmatching in New York.

1912: Roger Lee demonstrates that it is safe to give group O blood to patients of any group, and that blood from all groups can be given to group AB patients. The terms "Universal donor" and "Universal Recipient" are coined.

1937: Bernard Fantus, director of therapeutics at the Cook county Hospital in Chicago, establishes the first hospital blood bank. In creating a hospital laboratory that can perserve and store donor blood, Fantus originates the term "blood bank". Within a few years, hospital and community blood banks begin to be established across the United States. Some of the earliest are in San Fransisco, New York, Miami and Cincinnati.

1939: The rh blood group system is discovered by Karl Lansteiner, Alex Wiener, Philip Levine and R.E. Stetson and is soon recognized as the cause of the majority of transfusion reactions. Identification of the rh factor takes place in history as one of the most important breakthroughs in the history of blood banking.

1947: The American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) is formed to promote common goals among blood banking practitioners and the blood donating public.

1950: In one of the single most influential technical developments in blood banking, Carl Walter and W.P. Murphy Jr., introduce the plastic bag for blood collection. Replacing breakable glass bottles with durable plastic bags allows for the evolution of a collection system capable of safe and easy preparation of multiple blood components from a single unit of blood. Invention of the refrigerated centrifuge the following year further expedites blood component therapy.

1955: In response to the heightened demand to create an open heart surgery and advances in trauma care, blood use enters its most explosive growth period.

1960: Blood testing advances help to prevent Hemolytic disease through immunization. Through this, Rh positive and negative blood testing is done to protect pregnant mothers and their babies against getting blood that doesn't match. In emergencies, pregnant women will receive the blood they need based on the Rh factor and no harm will be done to mother or child.

1979: The anticoagulant preservative CPDA-1 is introduced. This extends the shelf life of blood and facilitates resource-sharing among blood banks.

2005: All donated blood in the United States is screened for HIV, Hepatitis B and C, HTLV-1 and 2, West Nile Virus and Treponema pallidum.

2006: Roughly 15 million units of blood are transfused each year in the United States.