The efficiency of blood transfusion in the treatment of hæmophilia
has been very often demonstrated, and seems at present to afford
the most certain means that we possess of arresting the symptoms.
Presumably the transfused blood supplies directly the deficient
factor in the coagulation complex, and it has been shown by Bernheim
(1917) that the transfusion even of quite a small amount of blood
will almost immediately stop the bleeding. In addition to comparative
certainty and rapidity in action, transfusion has the advantage
that it will replace the blood which has been lost, for often the
patient has reached a stage at which he is in danger of his life
from actual anæmia. This treatment, therefore, will always be useful
in an emergency, whether the patient be bleeding to death from a
slight wound, or whether he be suffering from acute appendicitis and
so is in need of an immediate operation. If transfusion does not at
once stop the bleeding, the treatment can be repeated, so that the
patient should not be allowed to die from loss of blood. In most
cases the bleeding will eventually stop if the patient’s life can
be prolonged. Even if the treatment be immediately successful, the
transfused blood necessarily contains only a limited quantity of the
substance necessary for the coagulation complex, and this gradually
disappears. Again, therefore, the effect is transitory, so that
transfusion is in no sense curative. It has been noticed that the
tendency of a hæmophilic to bleed decreases as age advances, and it
has been suggested by Ottenberg and Libmann that small quantities of
blood should be injected into his veins at regular intervals of one
to three months. It is possible that in this way he might be brought
safely through the more perilous years of his life.
The proof of the effect of transfusion upon the coagulation time
of the blood rests upon the evidence of a number of independent
observers. Pemberton has recorded a case of a hæmophilic whose
coagulation time before transfusion was estimated to be 23 minutes.
Blood was given to the amount of 500 cc., and 5 minutes later the
coagulation time was 3 minutes. Twelve hours later it was 8 minutes,
and on the fourth day after transfusion it had risen again to 20
minutes.
Other observations have been made as follows:
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