The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1919-05-01
MANY SAVED BY
CANNED BLOOD
One of the Remarkable Develop.
ments of Great War.
IS TRIUMPH OF SURGERY
knowledge Gained by Experience In
Other Wars the Basis Of Its Use
Work Of Medical Men After Battles
Shows Wonderful Advance Made In
Standardization Army Surgeons
Keep Up With Pace.

Keep Up With Pace.
The war department authorizes the
following statement from the Office of
the surgeon general:
One of the remarkable developments
of war surgery was the use made in
the American expeditionary force of
canned blood" The lives of many
wounded soldiers were saved through
TRANSMISSION of blood. Canned blood
Is a colloquialism, for In reality sterile
TASKS were used to contain tested
bloods which were prepared for use in
an emergency.
A few years ago treatment by this
method would have seemed incredible.
Due to the advancement of war sur
gerry, however, many things became
possible, and American army surgeons
kept the pace. The unadorned story
of the development and technique Of
blood TRANSMISSION In the American ex-
p~editionary force comes from a medi-
cal corps officer of the surgeon gener-
ais Office, who, for more than a year,
was with the, American expeditionary
force.
knowledge gained by experience in
other wars has shown that of the
many causes of death among wound
ed soldiers there are two which have
stood out prominently as heavy fac
tors: Shock and hemorrhage. Shock
is a peculiar phenomenon, the exact
nature Of which has been a mystery.
Since the beginning of the war, how
ever, there has been a concentration
of effort to solve this mystery, and
now, although the true physiological
mechanism In the production of shock
is not entirely solved, the scientific
workers of the allied countries and
the United States have gone far in
their efforts toward a better under
standing of 1t.
Shock and Hemorrhape.
Shock is characterized principally
by loss of body heat, p~rostration and
Inconsistencies, a lowered blood pres
SUR and an alteration In the ~circula-
tion-a stagnation of blood somewhere
In the body, most probably In the capil-
laries. As a matter OF fact, for some
time medical men have spoken Of
shock as a condition In which an in
dividual bleeds into his own blood
vessels and, In the sense that there is
a loss of blood from the circulation, an
analogy does exist between shock and
hemorrhage. 1t has been shown that
there are certain predisposing factors
In the production of shock, namely,
fatigue, hunger, exposure and excite
ment. Little need be said about the
cause of hemorrhage. because every
n knows that when wounds are In
fiicted, bleeding occurs
Concerning treatment, 1t Is of In
terest to know that the TRANSMISSION
Of blood Is by no means a modern idea,
for 1t was resorted to as early as the
fifteenth century. At that time, how.
ever, and until very recently, 1t was a
procedure attended with the probabil.
ity Of grave results. Hence 1t really
is perfection Of the technique that has
made the procedure available for sure
and easy use in the army and else
where.
For the use Of the army medical
science offered several different meth
DDS Of performing a blood TRANSMISSION.
BY the old method, called the direct
the blood vessels of two individuals
are connected by sutures and the blood
is allowed to flow from one individual
to another. This was improved upon
by the use of a specially devised tube
to connect the vessels. Any such
method, however. has many obvious
disadvantages. The element of time
the necessity for great skill on the part
of the operators, the possibility of in.
lection and inaccuracy In measuring
the quantity infused are some Of the
prominent difficulties. As a matter OF
fact. in civil practice, wherein a great
deal Of blood TRANSMISSION work Is
done, those methods are practically
obsolete.
Indirect Methods.
The big step In the development OF
the procedure for common use came
with the introduction of the indirect
methods. In these, blood from n In
dividual is received In a receptacle
and then injected into another indi'
vidual. The person giving the blood
1t may be well to state here, Is always
called 'the donor and the person re
ceiving it "the recipient"
In these indirect methods a very i'm.
portant consideration is the proven
tion of coagulation Of the blood be.
tween the time II Is drawn from the
"donor" and the time 1t is infused into
"the recipient"
In civil medical practice some men
use what is called the Syringe meth
3D." in which the blood Is removed
and injected by means OF glass
syringes. This procedure requires
three persons In order to carry on one
TRANSMISSION and depends upon the
quickness with which they work t.
avoid the possibility of c~oagulatior
4 OF the blood. II pieces Of c0agulatei
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