July 24, 1998. Copyright, 1998. Graphic News. All rights reserved

Blood product Ômay have caused deathsÕ

LONDON, July 24, Graphic News: A BLOOD PROTEIN used to treat critically-ill patients for more than 50 years may have caused thousands of deaths, doctors have said.

Researchers called in the British Medical Journal for a review of the use of albumin in the emergency treatment of patients with injuries and burns.
The Institute of Child Health team reviewed trials covering 1,419 patients

Risk of death was 6% higher among patients given albumin, they concluded.
Albumin, which is extracted from the liquid part of whole blood after a blood donation, was first used as a battlefield replacement for blood transfusions at Pearl Harbor during World War II. 	

Albumin Ð used for treating shock resulting from severe blood loss Ð is now used in only one-in-seven UK hospitals, having been replaced by salt solution which is 30 times cheaper than concentrated albumin solution. UK-derived human albumin is not used because of risks from new-variant CJD.

/ENDS
Source: BMJ