Blood transfusion - A Brief History
In 1628 when William Harvey described the functions of the heart and circulation of the blood.
First transfusion was carried out using 2 dogs as donors by Dr. Richard Lower of Oxford in 1666.
The very first person to give a transfusion to a human being was Prof. J. Denis. He gave transfusions of lambs blood to 5 different patients.
These experiments led the way for Dr. James Blundell.
Dr. James Blundell
Performed the first successful human –to- human blood transfusion.
He was convinced that only human blood would be suitable for a human transfusion.
He tested this theory in 1829 when he treated a patient of postpartum haemorrhage by transfusing 227ml of blood. The donor was the persons husband.
Safe & effective transfusion had to await the Austrian American Karl Landsteiner to discover the ABO blood group in 1900.