CLINICAL USE OF PRODUCTS OF HUMAN PLASMA FRACTIONATION

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Abstract
A. PLASMA FRACTIONATION As our understanding of the mechanisms of disease has advanced, the compound empirical remedies of an earlier era in medicine have been steadily replaced by specific drugs. Human blood is undergoing similar evolution as a therapeutic agent. Blood is a complex mixture of cellular elements and protein components in a menstruum which closely corresponds in composition to the interstitial fluid of the body. It is a specific remedy for one condition—hemorrhage—but has been used in the past as a "shotgun" remedy for general debility, anemia, hypoproteinemia, infection and hemorrhagic tendency. In many of these conditions only one particular component of blood is needed. The aim of the program of plasma fractionation is to supply the various protein components of plasma in concentrated and safe form for clinical use. This program had its origins in the needs of the armed forces for a compact, stable blood substitute for