Blood Substitutes Over 70 years ago, the U.S. War Department sought a blood replacement solution that could be stored at room temperature and administered in the battlefield without the need for crossmatching Realization that the red blood cell’s function to deliver oxygen to tissues could not be met by most available agents used as volume replacements for lost blood The emphasis has now focused on the development of oxygen delivery agents rather than blood replacement agents Back to Transfusion-Free Medicine & Surgery home page