Cadaveric blood transfusion

Lore & Background

In 1929, surgeon Vladimir Shamov of Kharkiv, USSR, reported the experimental use of cadaveric blood and demonstrated the absence of toxicity. Russian surgeon Sergei Yudin pioneered the transfusion of cadaveric blood and performed this successfully for the first time on March 23, 1930. Yudin also reported his first seven clinical transfusions with cadaveric blood at the Fourth Congress of Ukrainian Surgeons at Kharkiv in September 1930. The discovery that cadaveric blood could be stored safely provided time for both serological tests and bacteriological examinations.

Reader's Guide

Cadaveric blood transfusion never achieved widespread use, even in Russia. However, the studies that developed from it created a variety of means and methods for the collection, preservation, and storage of blood for transfusion, all of which may be grouped under the umbrella term 'blood bank.' In the United States, physician Bernard Fantus modified the Soviet idea by preserving blood from healthy, living people. Drawing on earlier work involving preservatives and anticoagulants, Fantus added the element of refrigeration and in 1937 established the first blood bank in the United States at Chicago's Cook County Hospital. Thus, while cadaveric transfusion itself faded, its legacy directly influenced the creation of modern blood banks.

Did You Know?

• Vladimir Shamov reported the experimental use of cadaveric blood in 1929.
• Sergei Yudin performed the first successful cadaveric blood transfusion on March 23, 1930.
• Cadaveric blood was never used widely, even in Russia.
• Bernard Fantus established the first U.S. blood bank in 1937 at Chicago's Cook County Hospital.