NoBlood

Memphis hospital to try out blood substitute

By Associated Press
January 7, 2004

MEMPHIS - Trauma patients receiving treatment at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis may wake up to find they have an experimental blood substitute running through their veins.

Up to 50 patients - all 18 or older and at risk of dying because of shock or blood loss - will be part of a yearlong study that began Tuesday and has received a rare exemption from federal guidelines governing human research.

It allows patients who meet study criteria to be enrolled before they or their families can weigh the pros and cons of participation.

The patients, who must have been transported to The Med by helicopter ambulance, will be divided into two groups. Half will receive the standard therapy of saline solution to combat blood loss; the others will receive up to six units of the blood substitute PolyHeme during the first 12 hours of care.

The difference between the two is that PolyHeme, unlike saline, can transport oxygen throughout the body. PolyHeme can last one year without refrigeration and can be received by anyone regardless of blood type.

"The compound is important because it is the only material that approaches blood" in its ability to transport oxygen, said Dr. Timothy Fabian, lead researcher and chairman of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center surgery department.

Fabian says PolyHeme, if proved safe and effective, will "revolutionize the way we transfuse people."

Area residents can opt out of the study by obtaining blue plastic wristbands that read, "I decline the Northfield Laboratories PolyHeme study." The bracelets already have been given out to area Jehovah's Witnesses churches, which object to blood transfusions.

Others can receive the bands upon request by calling 901-448-5714. The Med serves as a regional trauma center for patients in parts of Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi.

A telephone study of 500 area residents conducted in September and October found that nearly 77 percent of those questioned said they would want to receive an "experimental fluid" if it might improve their odds of survival.

The Med is one of 20 trauma centers nationwide participating in the study of PolyHeme, which is being developed by Northfield Laboratories of Evanston, Ill., as an alternative to blood in emergency situations.

The local research oversight board approved the study following a summer and fall public education effort that included community meetings and newspaper advertisements.

__________________
Mr. Jan B. Wade
Blood Management Consultant
Enhance Outcomes - Control Cost
For Information Call - 360 296-1807
Email