Der Anaesthesist
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
[Recombinant erythropoietin in autologous blood donation].
As a result of the AIDS crisis, public and physician pressure have increased the utilization of autologous blood products. Attitudes about homologous blood transfusion, however, have changed dramatically in recent years. A large segment of the population undergoing elective surgery is elderly and therefore has a significant incidence of cardiovascular disease and a slow response of the erythropoietic system when acute anemia occurs. ⋯ As a consequence, patients with anemia and particular contraindications to homologous blood derivatives (irregular antibodies, Jehovah's Witnesses) may be able to undergo major surgery successfully. The possibility of shortening the intervals between phlebotomies would seem to be of major advantage; our data also suggest that an aggressive autologous blood collection program would increase yields over present programs. In our institute a minimum hemoglobin level of 11.5 g/dl is accepted for autologous donation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)