Synthetic/Artificial blood: A breakthrough that can redefine Emergency Medicine and Transfusions

General
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Let us imagine a world where we are no longer witnessing blood shortages, transfusion delays, and rare blood-type incompatibilities, as they mostly serve as life-threatening barriers.

In November 2023, researchers from the UK launched the “RESTORE trial”, world’s first clinical study to transfuse lab-grown red blood cells into human volunteers. The results were published in the journal “Nature Biotechnology”, where it was demonstrated that the synthetic red blood cells functioned normally and they also survived significantly longer in circulation compared to the standard donor cells. This property can assist in fewer transfusions for patients with chronic anemia or blood disorders.

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The process here involves extraction of stem cells from a donor’s blood and then culturing them in controlled lab conditions towards production of RBCs in bioreactors. This approach ensures precise quality control, and also it does eliminate the risk of infectious disease transmission, alongwith providing a life-saving solution for patients with rare blood types who often face delays in finding compatible donors.

Significant Applications:

  1. Synthetic blood can be used in emergency trauma care where matched blood is unavailable.

  2. Also can be used in case of chronic transfusion patients suffering from conditions like sickle cell disease/thalassemia

  3. Military/remote area medical use, where long shelf life and portability plays a critical role

While synthetic blood is still in early stages of clinical development and costly at the moment to produce at scale, the long-term implications are profound.

– Can synthetic blood will be able to reduce global dependence on traditional blood donations?

– If synthetic blood becomes viable at scale, should its use be prioritized for specific populations (e.g., rare blood types, military, low-resource regions)?

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@Nikita21 Rightly outlined.

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Blood shortage is big issue , cause in any trauma/accident people died cause of blood loss and not getting blood on time so that would be grateful

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@Prajal Very true. During emergency conditions, it can be extremely beneficial to save a life on time, else a lot of time goes in searching for the same blood group people or checking in blood bank. This can save ample time during critical situations.

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If synthetic blood becomes safe and scalable, it can reduce the need for traditional donations. It should be used first for rare blood types, soldiers, and remote areas where real blood is hard to get.