History of Transfusion Medicine: In the early 1600's, Richard Lower first described blood being taken from the femoral artery of a dog, and infusing it into the jugular vein of a second dog. Further experimentation with blood taken from and instilled into different species was found to be associated with several abnormal physiologic reactions, leading to the proposition that "like transfuses like". In fact, transfusion of cow and sheep blood into demented human patients caused documentation of thefirst known transfusion reaction, characterized by injection site discomfort, tachycardia, diaphoresis, nausea, renal pain, and black discoloration of the urine. Further research in 1910 allowed the discovery of four agglutinins and hemolysins on caninered blood cells (RBC's). By 1949, a total of six blood groups had been identified in dogs. Advances and progress in veterinary medicine have led to a more routine need for and use of canine and feline blood products as therapy for a variety of diseases.Most recently, development of a hemoglobin-based oxygen carrier (HBOC) has broadened the armamentarium of transfusion products available to the general practitioner.
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