[Perfluorochemicals as artificial blood. problems and actual development (author's transl)]

Perfluorochemical-type blood substitutes are excellent carriers of gases such as O2, CO2, CO, N2. These chemical compounds are insoluble in water and have an extreme chemical and biological inertness. They can be prepared as pyrogen-free sterilisable emulsions. In the last 10 years improvements in emulsion techniques and the results of experimental research work in several laboratories aroused increasing interest in fluorocarbons in the medical and biological field. Beside the treatment of severe loss of blood, numerous further potential uses of these substitutes have been described. Further improvements and studies are needed, especially concerning the storage-phenomenon in the reticulohistiocytic system and also the problems linked with the absence or reduction of the clotting system. The existing literature on this subject seems to justify an optimistic view of fluorocarbons as promising blood substitutes.