Tests not done in vein

We’re not doctors. (Yes, yes, hold back the surprise.) So this is an

entirely unqualified opinion, but maybe it speaks for all those other

folks out there missing a medical license: Artificial blood? We can

do that?

Apparently, it is at lease feasible. And Costa Mesa-based

Synthetic Blood International Inc. is a step or two toward making it

not only feasible, but a fact.

The company announced last week that an early trial of synthetic

blood (is the company’s name making sense now?) had shown success.

The blood -- which is made of liquid perfluorocarbon emulsified in

water and salt -- would be used in short-term situations, such as

during surgery and for trauma patients, to transport oxygen to the

body’s tissues and take carbon dioxide to the lungs.

It certainly sounds promising and a potential boon to emergency

rooms. More tests are still needed, but company officials hope to

have a report to the government by January. From there, it’s in the

hands of the Food and Drug Administration.

Again, we’re not doctors, so we have to ask this question: If it’s

artificial, can it be made in different colors? Bleeding green would

make the trauma of the trauma center a bit more palatable.