The Development and Evaluation of Hemoglobin Solution as a Blood Substitute

The development and evaluation of an effective Hb solution as a blood substitute are important not only for the care of casualties resulting from mass disasters, but also for eventual use in other special clinical situations. Substantial improvements have been made by several recent research efforts in the general purity and quality of experimental Hb solutions. Such improvements have enabled investigators to study the potential applications of Hb solutions in far less ambiguous manner than was previously possible. These studies have produced a reasonably clear picture of the limitations of the current product and an insight for approaches in a systematic improvement. The Hb solution as presently formulated, although has the limitation of short vascular retention time, potentially could be useful in several applications such as transfusions in patients who cannot receive immediate medical assistance, but could receive blood after a few hours, or transfusions in patients who cannot receive medical care for prolonged periods of time, provided that the Hb and blood volume losses are restored by periodic or continuous infusion of Hb solution. Furthermore, the present product could be useful in open heart surgery, in organ perfusion and in situations of uncontrolled bleeding. Paper from the Proceedings of the Army Sciences Conference (1982), 15-18 Jun 82.