Pennsylvania Hospital Oncologist a Pioneer in "Bloodless Medicine"

WNCF 32/ABC

The ABC network TV affiliate in Montgomery, Alabama, WNCF 32, recently ran a story about bloodless medicine and surgery – the safe and effective method of treating patients without using whole blood or blood products such as red cells, white cells, platelets and plasma. Patients choose non-blood treatment for religious personal, ethical or medical reasons. Some patients choose non-blood medicine or surgical management over concern about the nations blood supply. According to the ABC story, “a recent study found the blood stored in donor banks may not be as safe as once thought. Researchers found patients who received transfusions with blood that had been stored for 29 days or more were twice as likely to suffer hospital-acquired infections like pneumonia, upper respiratory infections and sepsis. Current federal regulations in the United States allow red blood cells to be stored for up to 42 days.” In the story, Patricia Ford, MD, director of the Peripheral Stem Cell Transplant Program and director of the Center for Bloodless Medicine and Surgery at Pennsylvania Hospital, is credited as one of the pioneers of bloodless stem cell transplants and for teaching the procedure to other physicians around the world. In 1996, Dr. Ford became one of the first doctors in the country to perform a bloodless peripheral stem cell transplant. The procedure was successfully performed on lymphoma patient... Read More