Contribution of academician S.S. Yudin and his collaborators in the development of postmortem blood transfusion: historical aspects (the 90th anniversary of the birth of a method)

The article highlights domestic priorities in developing a method of cadaveric blood transfusion. On March 23, 1930 S.S. Yudin together with his assistants made the first blood transfusion taken from the deceased, which is considered the birthday of this method. It is noted that subsequent clinical observations were no less difficult than this first case of transfusion of postmortem blood, but this did not stop S.S. Yudin, and with surprising persistence and enthusiasm, he continued to work on the study of this method. Among his assistants in the first place marked R.G. Sakayan, M.G. Skundin, S.I. Barenboim and A.V. Rusakov, who have put a lot of work into this difficult task. After the end of the great Patriotic war, S.S. Yudin decided to generalize his vast experience in transfusion of postmortem blood and in 1950 began working on a large monograph, in which he wanted to present «twenty Years of experience in procurement, storage and transfusion of postmortem blood». The author emphasizes that more than 10,000 transfusions of postmortem blood produced at the Sklifosovsky Institute allow him to draw quite definite conclusions and give the reader a number of important practical tips on the use of postmortem blood. It is shown that the idea of transfusion of postmortem blood marked the beginning of a new era in surgery - the use of tissue taken from corpses for transplants.