Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 97-99. (Budapest, 1982)

TANULMÁNYOK - Rex-Kiss Béla: A vérátömlesztés története hazánkban — történeti előzmények és visszaemlékezés

52. Vágó, A.: Über die Anwendung der Bluttransfusionen auf dem Gebiete der Geburtshilfe und Gynäkologie. Zbl. Gynäk. 1920, 44, 1087. 53. Willenegger, H. — Boitel, R.: Der Blutspender Basel, 1947. Summary The history of blood transfusion offers a view of failures and achievements alternation each other. Many attempts had been made, much experience gained, but the precondition of development was only established with the discovery of the circulation of the blood in 1628. We may count the history of blood transfusion from this date on. The history of blood transfusion well lends itself to a

— somewhat arbitrary — periodization. The first period is the time up to end of the 18th century. The second period ends with the discovery of blood groups by Landsteiner in 1901. The third period extends to 1940 when Landsteiner and colleagues discovered the Rh factor and later on the Rh blood group system, ushering in the fourth period, the full development of transfusion or more exactly haemotherapy. Following this introduction the author treats the history of blood transfusion in Hungary up to the 1950s. The history of blood transfusion in Hungary starts only in the second half of the 19th century. The first transfusion performed on man in Hungary took place at the beginning of the 1870s, with lamb's blood (Klempa). About the same time, in 1873, took place the first transfusion of human blood, with mortal outcome (Brandt). We have no record of the first successful human blood transfusion neither of the first transfusion preceded by blood group examination. The first hospital donor service in Hungary was organized by Endre Kubányi in the early 1920s at the surgical clinic in István Hospital of Budapest. Endre Kubányi, chief surgeon in Budapest, had a great part in the spread of blood transfusion. He wrote the first book in the Hungarian language on transfusion which appeared in Budapest in 1926, then it was published in Vienna in German in 1928. Kubányi later, in 1935, organized the donor service at Rókus Hospital Budapest wich provided donors for the other hospitals of the capital, too. The first transfusion of fresh, citrated blood in Hungary was performed by Endre Kubányi in 1923. In the period between 1920—1945 Hungarian doctors lagged behind both the western countries and the Soviet Union in the practice of blood transfusion. A main cause of this was that medicine in Hungary followed mainly the medical schools of Vienna and Berlin which were also backward in the field of blood transfusion. In spite of the fact that demands for several regional or one national donor service and transfusion institute were sounded as early as the 1930s they were not put into reality until after 1945. The Hungarian democratic government ordered in 1948 the establishment of the National Transfusion Service and the Central Research Institute. With this an important health program was launched which not only eliminated the backwardness of a field in Hungarian medicine but also layed the foundation of a development affecting the whole of med cal sciences in Hungary. The government regardedias state duty to provide for the necessary human blood supply and established a national organization. The Hungarian Red Cross was charged with the recruitment of donors. The government was of the opinion that giving blood is a social duty where the compensation or its measure should not have importance. The motive for giving blood should be the wish to help our ailing fellow-man. Béla Rex-Kiss was charged in 1948 with the organization of the National Transfusion Service and the Central Research Institute. He was possessing the necessary expert knowledge and international experience in blood group serology and transfusiology. The National Transfusion Service and the central institute started work on 1 January 1949 in Budapest under the directorship of Béla Rex-Kiss. In the middle of 1949 started the production of preserved whole blood and plasma. Already in the first year the institute provided more than twenty health institutions in Budapest with fresh citrated and preserved whole blood and plasma. ACD-solution was used as a stabilizer to which Merthiolat was added in a concentration of 1 : 10 000. Blood taking