Japanese Firm to begin testing Artificial Blood....

[sao123]

Link to article
How likely is this to become a reality?


Artificial Blood Cells? Sounds like a transfusion rejection waiting to happen...

 

[CycloWizard]

It will become a reality. The only question is how long it will take, and that I can't really answer. Many labs around the world have been working on characterizing the various facets of blood cell behavior for decades. The problem is making something that meets all the criteria for replacement, which is hardly trivial.

 

[Cooler]

sounds like ghost in the shell.....

 

[TraumaRN]

Originally posted by: sao123

Sounds like a transfusion rejection waiting to happen...

Well I imagine they'll make it either in different varieties for the different blood types, or they'll make it universally compatable.

Of course some people will react this is a calculated risk just like anything in medicine/nursing. But imagine if you will if you have a major trauma and they can transfuse this stuff on the way to the hospital? Or what about just having this instead of blood, how much blood could you then save for the people who need it? Heck just using this in conjunction with blood would be amazing!

The possibilities and implications are truly endless.

 

[patentman]

While its a cool idea and I'm certain it will be developed, I have a tough time beleiving anything in the inquirer. Although they were dead on the money with the Nick Lache and Jessica Simpson breakup!

 

[Radical Ans]

Wouldn't your body eventually make normal blood to replace any artificial blood lost? Wouldn't this blood be susceptible to bacteria and viruses?

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: patentman
While its a cool idea and I'm certain it will be developed, I have a tough time beleiving anything in the inquirer. Although they were dead on the money with the Nick Lache and Jessica Simpson breakup!

um... the inquirer is a UK tech news site, the articles they publish are true...
this isnt that tabloid newpaper you buy in america supermarket.

 

[TraumaRN]

Originally posted by: Radical Ans
Wouldn't your body eventually make normal blood to replace any artificial blood lost? Wouldn't this blood be susceptible to bacteria and viruses?

In a word yes, if you already have bacteremia you'll still have bacteremia after this, the point is they could transfuse this sterilely, which cannot be said for normal blood transfusions.

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: Radical Ans
Wouldn't your body eventually make normal blood to replace any artificial blood lost? Wouldn't this blood be susceptible to bacteria and viruses?

what their saying is that... with artificial blood, you can eliminate the possibility of contracting a bloodborn disease (such as aids) from transfusions, because this is new artificially manufactured blood, as opposed to that from another human.

 

[msparish]

Currently there is a clinical trial in the US for a blood substitute product for trauma victims. The basics are that it can transport oxygen and is compatible with any blood type. Therefore, when the paramedics arrive, they can administer the blood substitute if there was major blood loss, theoretically giving the patient a better chance at survival until they can reach a major medical center. So, if any of you get in a major accident in Salt Lake City (one of the cities the trial is in...don't know the others, just SLC as I live there), you may receive the blood substitue by paramedics. If you don't want it, you need to opt out of the clinical trial in advance. Hopefully it works well.

Here's a press release: Text

 

[anatawa]

im not sure if they can make it universally transferable as blood replacement.. but i guess it is possible just for carrying few substance and mixing with real blood..

 

[networkman]

Generally, the idea behind synthetic blood and tissue is for immediate needs such as for burn victims or other related trauma where the engineered materials would be able to sustain a person while their own organs work to repair the damage.

I'm not aware of anyone trying to create these synthetic materials as a complete replacement for the materials we have now.

 

[interchange]

Originally posted by: DeathBUA
Well I imagine they'll make it either in different varieties for the different blood types, or they'll make it universally compatable.

Of course some people will react this is a calculated risk just like anything in medicine/nursing. But imagine if you will if you have a major trauma and they can transfuse this stuff on the way to the hospital? Or what about just having this instead of blood, how much blood could you then save for the people who need it? Heck just using this in conjunction with blood would be amazing!

There's no need to make special varieties for the standard blood types. Blood type O is a universal donor, essentially lacking the protien markers A and B in their blood. Their bodies, however, attack blood cells with those protien markers. If the artificial oxygen carrying agents don't have those markers, it won't be a problem. There are rarer blood markers out there, and I don't know about the implications with these types.

I am pretty sure the critical component of blood you want to transfuse is red blood cells, so if this works, there should be no reason to have regular transfusions.

I am curious what will become of these things...will they be filtered by the spleen? Eventially attacked by the body's immune system? Would they linger forever? Would they clot like red blood cells? I wonder if they could even be used as a treatment for people with heart conditions/maybe even to increase athletic performance.

 

[TraumaRN]

Originally posted by: interchange

Originally posted by: DeathBUA
Well I imagine they'll make it either in different varieties for the different blood types, or they'll make it universally compatable.

Of course some people will react this is a calculated risk just like anything in medicine/nursing. But imagine if you will if you have a major trauma and they can transfuse this stuff on the way to the hospital? Or what about just having this instead of blood, how much blood could you then save for the people who need it? Heck just using this in conjunction with blood would be amazing!

There's no need to make special varieties for the standard blood types. Blood type O is a universal donor, essentially lacking the protien markers A and B in their blood. Their bodies, however, attack blood cells with those protien markers. If the artificial oxygen carrying agents don't have those markers, it won't be a problem. There are rarer blood markers out there, and I don't know about the implications with these types.

I am pretty sure the critical component of blood you want to transfuse is red blood cells, so if this works, there should be no reason to have regular transfusions.

I am curious what will become of these things...will they be filtered by the spleen? Eventially attacked by the body's immune system? Would they linger forever? Would they clot like red blood cells? I wonder if they could even be used as a treatment for people with heart conditions/maybe even to increase athletic performance.

Good point as well, and good point about whats gonna filter it? Spleen? Kidney? Liver? Does it break down allowing the kidney/liver to process it, if so whats the half-life on these.

And yes you'd still need regular infusions, some with an Hgb of like 6 or so is still gonna need RBCs to replace those that are lost, just transfusing with the artificial stuff probably wont be sufficient in the long term.

 

[cheesehead]

I heard about this a while ago. It's based on a type of synthetic compound like hemoglobin; I don't know much more.
One possible application is for cases where not enough oxygen is getting to the brain. Using a very concentration of pre-oxygenated 'synthetic blood", one could stave off brain-death until it's possible to get the victim to a hospital.
What I'd like to see is if we could, possibly using ths chemical in concentration, put oxygen directly into the blood. That way, we could use SCUBA tanks full of pure oxygen, and we coudl stay under water longer.

 

[magomago]

AWSOME! I'm doing a project on this right now and this could help I'm supposed to be looking for a job and have received an offer from two artificial blood companies. One using hemo-subsitute based technology and another using PFCs. I have to state which one I will pick and why using quantitation I'l make a longer post here later since I have accumulated quite a bit of information on this junk in the past week reading articles

btw guys:

just a quickie. These things are not made for long term use. I think PFCs have something like 20-30 hour halflifes in the body (although they can sit in storage for years at room temperature). We are not necessarily looking for a long term fix because that has a LOT of problems. Rather if we can use it for the short term, if we can use it for people in the ER who have lost huge amounts of blood due to an injury, or in a surgeory where the bleeding in uncontrollable, then we can save a LOT of real blood by giving subsitute blood that will help carry oxygen for a maybe half a day while your body starts replenishing its own supply.
On that basis something like this can be very lucrative because of the huge blood shortage. So a lot of this artificial blood is designed for the short term, not something where you inject it in your body and leave it there for twenty years