GTC Biotherapeutics (fka GTCB)

[jessellivermore]

As a former combat surgeon in the RVN..................

From June 1972 till the day the last of the regular troops left Nam (30/4/73) I was a general surgeon attached to USAH Saigon. We did not have factorVII available, but we did have a similar problem with a priority issue. The problem involved the availability of fresh blood for transfusion. All donor blood in was provided by the Red Cross and all of it was shipped from the USA. Army regulations prohibited in country blood procurement, and to get fresh blood required an OK fron USARV headquarters (essentially never done). The problem is old blood, ie blood procured over three or four days is deficient in clotting factors and more importantly lacks platelets. The reason for the prohibition....hepatitis, malaria and syphilis, were endemic in Nam. As surgeons we were aghast that patients would hemorrhage to death to prevent them from the possibility of getting some remote disease.