Postoperative jaundice was noted early, especially after surgery in which large amounts of banked-blood were used.
This fact was analysed from clinical and laboratory points of view and experiments were performed pertaining to toxicity of hemolobin to the liver cell.
1. Postoperative jaundice appeared in 41 of 380 cases who had blood transfusions at some stage of surgical operation, rather early, in 21 of 41 cases.
2. This early jaundice developed within one week in 21 cases.
3. Early jaundice tended to develop in cases receiving transfusions of banked blood in large amounts.
4. This type of jaundice was differentiated from serum hepatitis clinically by rapid onset and disappearance.
5. Early jaundice and serum hepatitis could not be differentiated by means of liver function tests.
6. This post-operative early jaundice was not a simple manifestation of hemolytic jaundice, but hemolytic jaundice may lead to hepatocellular jaundice.
7. Hepatocellular damage could be induced by repeated injections of hemoglobin solution.
8. From these results, it may be concluded that the blood should be as fresh as possible and hemolysis should be minimal in transfusing large amounts of banked-blood.
