So glad I found this forum! I'm supposed to give a 4 minute talk on Monday 27th August in Finland on artificial blood to an audience of a medical recruitment company. So far in my recearch I've found perfluorocarbon (PFC) based emulsion Oxygent to be totally free of blood fractions, 100% synthetic.(manufactured by Alliance Pharmaceuticals, CA) Any of you know anything/had experience on this product? I learned that it has been released for use in South Africa, and here in Europe it is in the final stages (phase 3) of clinical research and Alliance has made arrangements with some companies to market it here soon. It seems to me that this product sounds most promising as an oxygen carrying blood substitute - please advice if otherwise. Many thanks in advance for your input.
Kimmo Kananen, Jyväskylä, Finland
my apologies for misspelling the product name, it is now correctly spelled with a g.

Go to Alliance Pharmasudical or just type in Oxygent into your engine.

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Jim Laws

Why did all that mumble jumble come up when I typed in a web site for Oxygent
Just type in "Oxygent" you will find the web site.

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Jim Laws

Thanks, I'll check into it.

This would not be an option for JW's, since the blood is bagged prior to surgery and then reinfused after surgery. It is reinfused with the stored blood.

See Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp - OxygentTM Fact sheet

Oxygent™ is not a blood product and does not require blood transfusion as a delivery vector. The website you refer to describes a separate procedure called acute normovolemic hemodilution (ANH), which is one option for surgical patients who want to avoid being transfused with someone else's blood, primarily by conserving their own blood. Such a procedure is a personal conscience matter for those with religious objections to blood transfusion. In that particular setting Oxygent™ can, if desired, be used as the fluid that replaces the blood that has been diverted into bags. So in that case it acts not merely as a volume expander, but one that can transport oxygen to the body's cells. However ANH is not the only situation in which Oxygent™ can be employed, and it has been used postoperatively to help anemic patients recover more quickly.

It what way is it administered without blood? JW blood cannot be bagged, stored and reused. Can it be administered during an operation in which the blood runs in a continuous circuit - ie: through a cell saver?

By the way, thank you for your reply. I ask not to challenge, but to learn.

Hi again moodog. It's good that you ask, that's the only way we all learn. First, you appear to be confusing two separate issues. Oxygent™ is a nonblood volume expander which, because of its special chemical formulation, is able to carry oxygen in dissolved form to the body's tissues. Thus, it can be used instead of blood in many situations.

ANH, on the other hand, is a procedure that utilizes the patient's own blood, before and after surgery. The process has been well described both in these forums and on the NoBlood Wiki. I recommend that you read through the latter article which can be found by following this link: http://wiki.noblood.org/Acute_Normovolemic_Hemodilution and take particular note of the section headed "Closed Circuit System." This explains that it is possible for the equipment to be set up in a way that may satisfy some people with a religious objection to blood transfusion.

The only reason that Oxygent™ is mentioned in connection with ANH is that in some cases it could be employed as the hemodilution/volume replacement fluid used in that procedure. However that option is still fairly experimental and not commonly used. In by far the majority of cases normal saline or a combination of saline and a colloid would be the fluid that is used.

Hope this helps to clarify these issues for you.