DONOR BLOOD KILLS ONE IN TWELVE
The medical community has known for years that blood transfusions often kill the patient they are meant to help. Patients who receive transfusions of donated blood have a 25% chance of suffering a heart attack and an 8% chance of dying within a month. These statistics hold true for all patients who receive donated blood, regardless of the circumstances surrounding the event. It doesn't matter if the patient is a trauma victim, undergoing surgery, or receiving the blood to help alleviate the side effects of chemotherapy. Doctors are well aware of these statistics, but what choice do they have? Compatible fresh blood is rarely available, especially in emergencies..
Recently researchers at Duke University believe they have hit upon the problem with stored blood. In an article just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, stored blood begins losing nitric oxide almost immediately. Blood cannot function without it, because it is this gas that delivers the vital nutrients to the tissues. When blood is deficient in nitric oxide, it will pull the nitric oxide it needs out of the surrounding tissues, causing them to constrict and become deoxigenated. When the tissue happens to be heart tissue, death can quickly follow. The researchers at Duke University found that blood stored more than 14 days is downright dangerous!
RED CROSS LETS IT HAPPEN
In spite of this, the American Red Cross the country's largest supplier of donated blood has shown no inclination to act on this information. U. S. law allows blood banks to store blood for up to 42 days, far longer than it is safe to keep and we would expect them to keep on doing that until ordered otherwise. Judging by the past performance of our FDA, we certainly can't be optimistic that this will happen any time soon.
IF YOU NEED AN OPERATION...
BANK YOUR OWN BLOOD!
The University of Michigan Health System conducted a study of more than 9,000 medicare recipients who had undergone coronary bypass surgery. This procedure typically requires a blood transfusion. Among other things, they measured the number of infections and deaths occurring within the 100 day peiod after surgery. Patients who banked their own blood ahead of time and received it during during the operation (autologous transfusion) had no greater risk than patients who received no transfusions at all. But patients who received blood from donors other than themselves (allogeneic transfusions), had at least triple the infection rate. The more allogeneic blood they received, the higher the infection rate in these patients.
WOMEN AT GREATER RISK
The same study found that women who had bypass surgery have an especially high risk of infection, and even death. Overall, 9% of women and 6% of men died within 100 days of the surgery. But the real risk really seems to be from the donor supplied (allogeneic) blood transfusions themselves. This is not the first study conducted around this issue. Many past studies have shown that allogeneic transfusions specifically, suppress the recipient's immune system.
TRANSFUSIONS ARE NEEDED ANYWAY
Blood transfusion is an indispensable tool of modern medicine, helping patients replace blood lost through injury, major surgery, or illness that destroys blood cells. It needs to be applied with caution though and as a patient you should be very wary of receiving any blood other than your own. Even blood from a close relative can carry pathogens that remain undetected and are then in a position to attack your compromised immune system. Fresh blood less than 14 days old, the fresher the better will give you the best chance of surviving unscathed, any ordeal where a blood transfusion is a necessity. Your own blood is always your best option!
