Normal human blood serum as a curative agent in hemophilia neonatorum : a preliminary report, with suggestions for its use in other conditions / by John Edgar Welch.

  • Welch, John Edgar.
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Normal human blood serum as a curative agent in hemophilia neonatorum : a preliminary report, with suggestions for its use in other conditions / by John Edgar Welch. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    7/20 (page 5)
    Among the list of drugs advocated as therapeutic remedies for this condition the most favorite are probably calcium salts, solutions of gelatin, and adrenalin. Numerous drugs have been employed, but the very length of the list attests their uselessness. In eighteen recorded cases of hemophilia at the Lying-in Hospital, New \'ork, in which these remedies were used there were seventeen deaths, which demonstrates the high mortality in this disease and the futility of all*previous therapeutic measures. Having in mind the almost uniform failure of drugs in this condi- tion and the possibility of producing serum sickness by using the serum of a different species, I decided to attempt the use of normal human serum. In January, 1909,1 made my first injections of normal human serum into a bleeding baby. Case I.—The subject was three or four days old when it began bleeding. Within twenty-four hours the body was black and blue from subcutaneous hemorrhages; there was a large hematoma occupying one-third of the scalp on one side of the head, and bleeding from the mouth and bowel. The child was so weak it could not cry out when disturbed, though it would make a feeble effort. The case was thought hopeless by the attending sur- geon, who requested his house surgeon to ask permission of the parents for a postmortem examination. It was at this time I made the first injection of normal human blood serum; 10 c.c. was used and administered subcutaneously three times during the first day and once each on the following two days. Within a few hours a decided improvement was noted in the condition of the baby, in that the hemorrhages ceased, the old ones began to fade, and strength returned to the child in a very noticeable way. Within three days the hematoma of the scalp was entirely absorbed, and it was quite evident that the child was out of danger. This proved to be true, as the child left the hospital in due time with its mother without any sign of having been a bleeding baby. Encouraged by this result, the attending physicians of the New York Lying-in Hospital have placed at my disposal for treatment with normal human serum all the bleeding babies that have appeared in their wards. Altogether I have used it in twelve cases, all of which have been cured of their bleeding sickness. I report herewith eight additional cases, showing the variations in the temperature and weight charts. Case II.—First child; female; full term; normal delivery. On the fifth day blood was found oozing from the vulva. During the sixth and seventh days bleeding was continuous. Two hours after applying a fresh napkin the labia and buttocks would be smeared with blood. On the ninth day there was slight oozing from the umbilicus. There was no bleeding after the ninth day. Normal human serum was administered subcutaneously as follows: On the seventh day, three days after bleeding began, 10 c.c. in two doses; on the eighth day,