IDF Adopts New Blood-Transfusion Method for Battlefield Wounds

The IDF Medical Corps has in the past week adopted a method of whole blood transfusions, which is expected to save lives on the battlefield, Arutz Sheva reported on Wednesday.

The new blood units will be supplied in a single bag, replacing the conventional method using three separate bags for platelets, white blood cells and red blood cells.

Recent studies have shown that whole blood doses of Type O blood, with low antibody rates, that is, all three types in one bag, are more effective in treating the wounded on the battlefield. It also means a lighter supply weight, necessitating only a third of the bags that medical units must carry with them.

“This is a breakthrough in the field of medicine in the IDF,” said Dr. Yaakov Chen, head of the Operational Medicine Branch, “since it provides all the blood components needed to save the lives of the wounded in the field.

“The State of Israel is the second in the world to begin using the ‘whole blood ration,’ and the IDF has the privilege  to be the body that leads the process and to maintain international cooperation with experts from the United States and Norway together with the Blood Bank and MDA.”