Milestones in Transfusion Medicine
An article on advances in transfusion medicine by Naomi L. C. Luban, MD, and these accompanying milestones were published in December 2008 as part of the special ASH anniversary brochure, 50 Years in Hematology: Research That Revolutionized Patient Care.
| 1818 | The first successful human-to-human blood transfusion is performed by James Blundell. |
| 1900 | Karl Landsteiner develops the classification of blood into A, B, and C (later changed to O) groups. |
| 1902 | Alfred Decastello and Adriano Sturli add AB to the blood classification system. |
| 1907 | Ludvig Hektoen is the first to suggest that donors and patients should be screened for compatibility (now known as cross-matching). |
| 1912 | Roger Lee shows that O blood can be given to a person with any blood type (universal donor) and that a person with AB blood can receive blood from any blood group (universal recipient). |
| 1939 | Karl Landsteiner, Alex Wiener, Philip Levine, and R.E. Stetson develop the Rhesus (Rh) blood classification system. |
| 1943 | J.F. Loutit and Patrick L. Mollison develop a solution of acid citrate dextrose, which allows greater volumes of blood to be transfused and makes longer-term storage possible. |
| 1950 | Audrey Smith successfully freezes red blood cells using glycerol cryoprotectant. |
| Carl Walter and W.P. Murphy Jr. develop the plastic bag for blood collection. | |
| 1958 | Jean Dausset discovers the first human leukocyte antigen (HLA) on the surface of blood cells, which determines whether blood from one person might be successfully transfused into another individual. Rose Payne and others identify other HLAs, key discoveries for understanding tissue compatibility. |
| 1960 | Alan Solomon and John L. Fahey develop plasmapheresis, a procedure for separating whole blood into plasma and red blood cells. |
| 1964 | A method of concentrating clotting factors from fresh frozen plasma is discovered by Judith Pool, allowing patients with hemophilia to receive transfusions outside of the hospital. |
| 1968 | Rh Immune Globulin, the first treatment that addresses the differences between negative and positive blood types, proves effective in preventing hemolytic disease of the newborn. This condition, once a major cause of fetal death, occurs when an incompatibility between the mother's and the baby's blood causes her antibodies to destroy the baby's red blood cells. |
| 1969 | Scott Murphy and Frank Gardner develop a method for storing platelets at room temperature. |
| 1971 | The practice of testing donated blood for hepatitis B begins. |
| 1972 | The use of apheresis, the process of separating out only plasma or one specific type of blood cell from donated blood, and then returning the remaining blood cells back to the donor, begins. |
| Mid-1980s | The practice of testing donated blood for HIV begins. |
| 1999 | The use of nucleic acid amplification testing for active viruses in donated blood begins. |
| 2005 | The FDA approves the first West Nile virus blood test to screen blood donors. |