With summer traditionally seeing an increase in demand for blood donors, scientists at the Warsaw University of Technology have come up with a solution that could revolutionize transplantology.

Team leader Professor Tomasz Ciach said: “We hear of the search for the right blood group for the purposes of surgery, or of summer blood bank shortfalls, when more accidents happen and the demand for blood grows.

“At the same time, a blood transfusion means the risk of transmitting a disease, even one that contemporary medicine may not be aware of.

“Then there are cases where the patient objects to blood transfusion on account of their religion.

“The synthetic substitute solves all these problems.”

The artificial blood, which can be stored for many years, is free of antigens, viruses and bacteria and can be transfused to anyone, because it is compatible with all blood groups.

And, just like human blood, it is able to transport oxygen.

Ciach said: “Our liquid is white, like milk. This is because it is an emulsion of synthetic compounds that dissolve gasses very well.

“When it enters the bloodstream and reaches the lungs, it binds to oxygen and transports it to the tissues. Moreover, the substitute transports carbon dioxide from the tissues to the lungs.”

By testing the substitute blood on pigs, the scientists found that it supplied oxygen and glucose to the heart, which beat, contracted and pumped as normal.

Scientists have also managed to store pig liver and kidneys in the substitute blood for almost a week.

Further testing is now needed, but Ciach said that in the future: “We would like to take organs of lower quality, treat them, store them for a sufficiently long time and transplant them to patients when they need them.”

According to Professor Wojciech Lisik, a surgeon from the Medical University of Warsaw: “The breakthrough is that this substance delivers oxygen to tissues and removes carbon dioxide.

“This is the whole essence of this process. The fact that there will be no need to mark or select anything, only connect the drip, is a breakthrough.”