• Carine Garcia Hejl, Christophe Martinaud, Remi Macarez, Joshua Sill, Armelle Le Golvan, Renaud Dulou, Celine Longin Roche, and Stephane De Rudnicki.
• From the Hopital d'Instruction des Armees Percy (C.G.H.), Federation de Biologie Clinique; and Centre de Transfusion Sanguine des Armees (C.M., C.L.R.), Clamart; and Hopital d'Instruction des Armees du Val de Grace (S.D.R., R.D.), Departement d'Anesthesie-Reanimation and Service de Neurochirurgie, Paris, France; Eastern Virginia Medical School (J.S.), Department of Internal Medicine Pulmonary/Critical Care Division, Norfolk, Virginia; and Cabinet Medical (A.L.G.), Saint Leon; and Direction Centrale du Service de Sante des Armees (R.M.), Fort neuf de Vincennes, Sous Direction Hopitaux Recherche, Bureau Offre de Soins, Paris, France.
• J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2015 May 1;78(5):949-54.

BackgroundWe present here a description of the experience in whole-blood transfusion of a health service team deployed to a medical treatment facility in Afghanistan from June 2011 to October 2011. The aim of our work was to show how a "walking blood bank" could provide a sufficient supply.MethodsWe gathered the blood-group types of military personnel deployed to the theater of operations to evaluate our "potential walking blood bank," and we compared these data with our needs.ResultsBlood type frequencies among our "potential walking blood bank" were similar to those observed in European or American countries. Our resources could have been limited because of a low frequency of B blood type and negative rhesus in our "potential walking blood bank." Because of the large number of potential donors in the theater of operations, the risk of blood shortage was quite low and we did not face blood shortage despite significant transfusion requirements. Actually, 93 blood bags were collected, including rare blood types like AB and B blood types.ConclusionIn our experience, this international "walking blood bank" provided a quick, safe, and sufficient blood supply. More research in this area is needed, and our results should be confirmed by further prospective trials.Level Of EvidenceTherapeutic study, level V.

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