The Importance Of The Blood Bag – One Day Your Life May Depend On It

The Importance Of The Blood Bag

We all take for granted that when we need it, blood, from a little blood bag, will be there to be transfused. Perhaps we should be more grateful to those who have made this possible. The story, of blood transfusions is short; it developed so quickly and efficiently that we barely take the time to understand it.

Until 1915 there was no way to transfuse other than directly from one vein to another vein. With the discovery by Richard Lewison in New York that sodium citrate could be used as an anticoagulant, it suddenly became possible to store blood; but with this came many other issues to overcome.

It was during the First World War that the first blood depot was created, however, the blood could only be stored for a couple of days.

The Soviet Union was the first to create blood centres where donated blood was stored for future use; this was in the mid 1930s. The first US blood bank was set up in Chicago in 1937, with Europe following in 1940.

The first blood bag was created in 1953 by Fenwal Company. This was a plastic bag, which changed the way we handled blood forever.

It had already been discovered that blood could be separated into plasma and red blood cells. This separation meant that the blood could be stored for longer. This is where the plastic blood bags became important. Previously blood had been collected in glass jars. The combining of contents of different jars and then separating increased the risk of contamination; however, the new plastic bags removed this risk.

Now we have progressed further with portable storage for blood. This means that blood can be collected at the donation centres and then stored in refrigerators until they are returned to the blood bank.

For the transport of smaller amounts or for specific emergencies the blood bags are transported in thermal blood carrying bags. These keep the temperature constant and the blood in perfect condition for where ever it is needed.

The development of not only the blood bag, but also the carriers, donation and transfusion equipment save lives every minute. Everyone knows someone who has been saved by these developments and discoveries.