Utah patients to test new synthetic blood

Utah emergency crews may now use a blood-based synthetic product at the scenes of traumatic injuries and severe bleeding in place of simply providing intravenous saline.

It's all part of a 25-center national clinical trial of PolyHeme, a hemoglobin-based, oxygen-carrying blood substitute. University Hospital and LDS Hospital are running the clinical trial along the Wasatch Front to see if PolyHeme's use increases survival for critically injured, bleeding patients.

Traumatic injuries are the No. 1 cause of death in those under 45.

PolyHeme can do something that saline can't, carrying oxygen to tissue, just as blood does. But unlike blood, it's not dependent on blood typing to make sure the product and the recipient are compatible. Blood type is determined by proteins on the surface of the cell, which PolyHeme has removed, so it's compatible with all blood types and can be transfused to anyone, without waiting for the blood-typing process at the hospital.

It also doesn't have negative immune system effects that may be seen with blood transfusion, said Dr. Stephen E. Morris, the U. Hospital trauma chief.

It's stable so, unlike blood, it can be stored under proper conditions for a couple of years.

PolyHeme is a chemically modified human hemoglobin that can be rapidly transfused. Its expected benefit to the trauma patient is it carries oxygen, just as blood does — and which saline does not. And it will be available for use in the field, unlike blood.

Keeping the hemoglobin levels up even before a trauma patient arrives at the hospital may increase survival, said Dr. Todd Allen, LDS Hospital trauma research co-director.

"Blood loss," he said, can "set off a cascade of events that it is sometimes quite difficult to control."

Although emergency crews respond quickly and transport patients, those who need blood and the oxygen it carries don't get it until the ambulance gets to the hospital, said West Valley Fire Department Capt. Joe White. This provides a chance to start immediately a "fluid that could be lifesaving" to the patient.

The blood substitute has been studied in trauma patients inside hospitals, while this study takes it out to where the injuries occur.