From bloodletting to apheresis in Japan

Received 12 December 2008; received in revised form 2 February 2009; accepted 6 March 2009.

Abstract

The ancient therapy of bloodletting that was universal in the West traveled to Japan 500years ago on the trading vessels that carried physicians and barber-surgeons to care for the body and Christian missionaries to care for the soul. Then bloodletting was replaced by blood transfusion in the 19th century, only to return less than 50years ago as apheresis. An understanding of those transitions can be gained from the story of the introduction of Western medicine to Japan and the events that have led to the practice of apheresis there today.

a Japanese Red Cross Central Blood Institute, 2-1-67, Tatsumi, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-8521, Japan

b Transfusion Medicine Academic Center, Florida Blood Services, St. Petersburg, FL, USA

Corresponding author. Tel.: +81 3 5534 7511; fax: +81 3 5534 3766.

PII: S1473-0502(09)00172-4

doi:10.1016/j.transci.2009.10.004

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