The fascinating history of blood banks 

Blood banks play an important role in modern medical facilities. They keep blood in-store and make it available to patients in emergencies. So how does a blood bank operate? Blood is collected from donors, type-matched (a test transfusion to see how your blood will respond to potential donor blood) and stored/preserved for transfusion to recipients. Did you know that the first blood bank was established in the 17th century when World War II broke out? So how was blood transfused before the 17th century? Continue reading to find out! 

Blood transfusion before blood banks 
As many of you may be aware, blood transfusion is a process in which blood from a healthy individual is injected into a patient's body via a vein. But when was the first human-to-human blood transfusion done? In 1818, British scientist and obstetrician Dr James Blundell executed the first known transfusion of human blood. Dr Blundell was consulted by a patient suffering from severe bleeding. With no treatment available for this condition back then, Dr Blundell got to thinking. He assumed that if the patient is losing blood, then supplying him with blood would help restore his health. Sounds logical too, right? So, Dr. Blundell injected the patient with 12–14 ounces of blood from numerous donors. Despite these efforts, the patient eventually passed away. Why? Blood groups! Yes, the blood group types were not matched before the transfusion! But there’s no way Blundell knew about this since blood groups weren’t discovered yet. The world, for the first time, got acquainted with the three main blood groups (A, B, and O) after Austrian physician Karl Landsteiner discovered them in 1901.   

Cross-matching of blood types: A novel discovery  
American physician Reuben Ottenberg performed the first successful blood transfusion in 1907 by cross-matching, a technique that examines the blood of donors and recipients for signs of a mismatch. 

Nevertheless, as blood storage was not yet possible (because blood would clot), blood transfusion was still done by directly transferring blood (direct transfusion) from a healthy person into the body of an ailing person. However, in 1914, the first non-direct blood transfusion was performed from donor to recipient. In non-direct blood transfusion, blood is collected and preserved before being transfused into a patient. But what about clotting? Well, by then, researchers had found that adding sodium citrate, an anticoagulant, prevents blood from clotting. Thus, blood could be stored for days by adding an anticoagulant and cooling it, paving the way for blood banking! 

First blood bank opens in Chicago 
In 1937, American physician Dr. Bernard Fantus established the world’s first blood bank at Chicago's Cook County Hospital. He developed a technique for storing blood for up to 10 days! As a result, it became possible for people to ‘deposit’ their blood for later use or to donate to patients who had the same blood type. During the same time, Dr Charles R. Drew, an American surgeon, developed a technique for separating plasma (the colourless component of blood) from blood. He discovered that plasma alone could be used for blood transfusions and that whole blood wasn't actually needed. And what was more important was that plasma could be dried and stored for a week in blood banks. Earlier, blood could only be stored for a few days. This finding turned out to be a boon during World War 11! 

Triumph of blood banks during World War II 
When World War II wrecked Europe, Dr. Drew and the Red Cross, an American NGO, started a breakthrough initiative. With the new technique of performing blood transfusions with only plasma, they separated plasma from the blood donated in the United States and transferred it to Britain, thus creating a national system for blood donation. Not only this, to make blood donation more feasible, Dr. Drew and the Red Cross also established bloodmobiles during the war. It is a movable blood donation centre with necessary equipment for a blood donation procedure. These mobile blood donation stations could now save time by quickly reaching donors as well as patients! Currently, the United States collects over 13.6 million units of whole blood and red blood cells annually, saving countless lives.