In 1881, doctor William Halsted rushed to help his sister Minnie, who was hemorrhaging after childbirth. He quickly inserted a needle into his arm, withdrew his own blood, and transferred it to her. After a few uncertain minutes, she began to recover.
1881 年,William Halsted 醫生 衝去救佢嘅妹妹美妮 因為美妮產後大出血 佢迅速將針插入自己嘅手臂 抽自己嘅血,再輸血救妹妹 唔知幾分鐘之後 美妮開始恢復
Halsted didn’t know how lucky they’d gotten. His transfusion only worked because he and his sister happened to have the same blood type— something that isn’t guaranteed, even among close relatives.
海斯德唔知道佢哋有幾好彩 佢之所以輸血成功,只係因為 佢哋兩兄妹嘅血型咁啱一樣—— 血型唔一定吻合 就算係近親都好
Blood types hadn’t been discovered by Halsted’s time, though people had been experimenting with transfusions for centuries— mostly unsuccessfully. In 1667, a French physician named Jean-Baptiste Denis became the first to try the technique on a human. Denis transfused sheep’s blood into Antoine Mauroy, a man likely suffering from psychosis, in the hopes that it would reduce his symptoms. Afterward, Mauroy was in good spirits. But after a second transfusion, he developed a fever, severe pain in his lower back, intense burning in his arm, and he urinated a thick, black liquid.
喺 William 嘅時代 大家仲係對血型一無所知 雖然幾個世紀以來 一直有人嘗試輸血 但大部分都失敗咗 1667 年,一個叫 Jean-Baptiste Denis 嘅法國物理學家 進行咗首次人體輸血 Jean-Baptiste 將綿羊血 輸畀 Antoine Mauroy Antoine 疑似患有精神病 Jean-Baptiste 希望 輸血可以減輕佢嘅症狀 之後,Antoine 嘅精神狀態良好 但係第二次輸血之後 佢開始發燒 同時下背部有劇烈疼痛 而手臂好似燒著咁 而且排出一種濃稠、黑色嘅液體
Though nobody knew it at the time, these were the signs of a dangerous immune response unfolding inside his body. This immune response starts with the production of proteins called antibodies, which distinguish the body’s own cells from intruders. They do so by recognizing the foreign proteins, or antigens, embedded in an intruder’s cell membrane. Antibodies latch onto the antigens, signaling other immune cells to attack and destroy the foreign cells.
當時冇人知道 呢啲係佢身體有嚴重免疫反應嘅症狀 呢種免疫反應一開始會產生蛋白質 即係抗體 佢哋可以分清體內細胞同外來細胞 佢哋通過識別外源蛋白質 即抗原,嚟辨別外來細胞 抗體附著喺抗原表面 示意其他免疫細胞 去攻擊同摧毀外來細胞
The destroyed cells are flushed from the body in urine. In extreme cases, the massive break down of cells causes clots in the bloodstream that disrupt the flow of blood to vital organs, overload the kidneys, and cause organ failure. Fortunately, Denis’s patient survived the transfusion. But, after other cross-species transfusions proved fatal, the procedure was outlawed across Europe, falling out of favor for several centuries.
而被摧毀嘅細胞經尿液排出體外 喺極端情況中細胞大量分解 會令血液中產生結塊 阻礙血液流向重要器官 令腎臟超負荷 導致器官衰竭 好彩嘅係 Jean-Baptiste 嘅病人 冇死於嗰次輸血 但係,當跨種族輸血 被證實會致死時 輸血喺歐洲被視為非法行為 幾個世紀都唔受歡迎
It wasn’t until 1901 that Austrian physician Karl Landsteiner discovered blood types, the crucial step in the success of human to human blood transfusions. He noticed that when different types were mixed together, they formed clots. This happens when antibodies latch on to cells with foreign antigens, causing blood cells to clump together. But if the donor cells are the same blood type as the recipient’s cells, the donor cells won’t be flagged for destruction, and won’t form clumps.
直到 1901 年 奧地利物理學家 Karl Landsteiner 發現咗血型 呢個發現係人與人輸血嘅關鍵一步 佢發現當唔同類型嘅血混合時 就會發生結塊 因為抗體依附著喺 帶有外來抗原細胞上面 造成咗細胞聚集 但如果供體細胞同受體細胞 係同一個血型 供體細胞就唔會受到攻擊 亦唔會形成聚集
By 1907, doctors were mixing together small amounts of blood before transfusing it. If there were no clumps, the types were a match. This enabled them to save thousands of lives, laying the foundation for modern transfusions.
到 1907 年 輸血之前,醫生會先將少量血混合 如果冇出現細胞聚集 咁血液就配對成功 呢種方法令醫生拯救咗無數條生命 為現代輸血奠定咗基礎
Up to this point, all transfusions had occurred in real time, directly between two individuals. That’s because blood begins to clot almost immediately after coming into contact with air— a defense mechanism to prevent excessive blood loss after injury.
直到呢個時候為止 全部輸血都係實時嘅 直接喺兩人之間進行 係因為血液幾乎一接觸空氣 就即刻會發生凝結—— 呢種防禦機制係用嚟防止 防止受傷之後嘅過度失血
In 1914, researchers discovered that the chemical sodium citrate stopped blood coagulating by removing the calcium necessary for clot formation. Citrated blood could be stored for later use— the first step in making large scale blood transfusions possible. In 1916, a pair of American scientists found an even more effective anticoagulant called heparin, which works by deactivating enzymes that enable clotting. We still use heparin today.
1914 年,研究人員發現 化學物質檸檬酸鈉 可以通過移除凝結所需嘅鈣 令血液停止凝固 經檸檬酸鈉處理嘅血液可以待用—— 首次令大量輸血成為可能 1916 年,兩位美國科學家發現 一種更加有效嘅抗凝劑 肝素——佢可以停用導致凝結嘅酵素 宜家我哋依然用緊肝素
At the same time, American and British researchers developed portable machines that could transport donor blood onto the battlefields of World War I. Combined with the newly-discovered heparin, medics safely stored and preserved liters of blood, wheeling it directly onto the battlefield to transfuse wounded soldiers.
與此同時 美英兩國嘅研究人員 開發咗便攜式機械 可以將血液運送到 第一次世界大戰嘅戰場 同新發現嘅肝素結合 醫療兵得以安全咁貯藏多升血液 並將血液直接運去戰場為傷兵輸血
After the war, this crude portable box would become the inspiration for the modern-day blood bank, a fixture of hospitals around the world.
戰後,呢種原始嘅便攜箱 就係全球每間醫院必備嘅 現代血庫嘅前身