The Growing Demand for Bllodless Medicine and Surgery -A Preferred Method

Thankfully, there is an alternative-bloodless medicine and surgery.  Many patients view it not as a last resort but as a preferred treatment, and with good reason.  Stephen Geoffrey Pollard, a British consultant surgeon, notes the morbidity and morality rates among those who receive bloodless surgery are "at least as good as those patients who received blood, and in many cases they are spared the postoperative infections and complications often attributable to blood. "

How did Bloodless medical treatment develop?  In one sense the question is rather odd, since bloodless medicine actually predates the use of blood. Indeed, it was not until the early 20th century that transfusion technology had advanced to the point where it was routinely  used. Nevertheless, in recent decades some have  popularized the field of bloodless surgery.  For example, during the 1960's  noted surgeon Denton Cooley performed  some of the first open-heart operations without the use of blood.

With the rise of hepatitis among transfusion recipienrts during the 1970's, many doctors  began looking for alternatives to blood.  By the 1980's  a number of large medical teams were preforming bloodless surgery.  Then, when the AIDS epidemic broke out, these teams were repeatedly consulted by others who were eager to adapt the same techniquwes.  During the  1990's  many hospitals developed programs that offer bloodless options to their patients. 

Next time: The Growing Demand for Bloodless Medicine and Surgery - Conclusion of A Preferred Method

From the jw.org publications