Lifesaving Stopgap for Bleeders

The hemophilia victim lives in constant danger. From minor injuries to any form of surgery, the least leak in his circulatory system may require massive plasma transfusions as doctors try to supply a lifesaving amount of a missing clot-promoting protein. But all too often, new blood or plasma cannot be pumped into a "bleeder" in sufficient quantity without risk of overloading his circulatory system. Some concentrates of the vital protein are available, but they are expensive. Now Stanford Physiologist Judith Graham Pool has developed a simple, cheap and effective method of concentrating the protein in so potent a form that small amounts can stop hemorrhages.

Dr. Pool learned that frozen plasma, when slowly thawed, leaves behind a residue rich in antihemophilic globulin (AHG), the protein that is lacking in the blood of hemophiliacs. Spun in a centrifuge, the protein can be concentrated further. Refrozen, it can be stored for relatively long periods in sterile plastic bags. Thus far the AHG concentrate, which is being prepared by a pair of San Francisco-area blood banks, has been used successfully on 14 patients in four California hospitals. Researchers may some day learn how to help hemophiliacs make their own AHG, perhaps through transplants of AHG-producing tissue. But until more is known about what tissues are involved in that process, the newer AHG therapy offers a life-saving stopgap that may well become a staple of blood banks around the world.

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