Transfusion of Synthetic Blood Saves Woman's Life
Blood Supply Donor blood goes bad, requires refrigeration, and can carry pathogens. Researchers are seeking synthetic alternatives that are universal to make up for short supplies of the real thing. MartinD via Wikimedia A synthetic blood substitute is something of a holy grail in medical research. Many potential synthetics have been tried--DARPA has even put a blood substitute before the FDA--but most have been disappointingly ineffective. So it's pretty significant that an experimental synthetic blood substitute derived from cow plasma has brought an Australian woman back from the brink of death. Tamara Coakley arrived at a Melbourne hospital very bad shape. A car accident left her with a damaged spinal cord, collapsed lungs, a fractured skull and various traumatic injuries. It also left her clinging to life with a dangerously low amount of blood in her body, too little to oxygenate her tissues effectively. Complicating matters further, Coakley's religion dictated that she...