Annals of cardiac anaesthesia
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Acute normovolemic hemodilution is not beneficial in patients undergoing primary elective valve surgery.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of acute normovolemic hemodilution (ANH) as a sole method of reducing allogenic blood requirement in patients undergoing primary elective valve surgery. One hundred eighty eight patients undergoing primary elective valve surgery were prospectively randomized into two groups: Group I (n=100) acted as control and in Group II (n=88) autologous blood was removed (10% of estimated blood volume in patients with hemoglobin (Hb) > 12g% and 7% when the Hb was < 12g%) in the pre-cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) period for subsequent re-transfusion after protamine administration. The autologous blood withdrawn was replaced simultaneously with an equal volume of hydroxyl-ethyl starch solution. ⋯ Group II = 1.3+/-1.0 units intra-operatively and Group I = 1.7+/-1.2 units vs. Group II = 1.7+/-1.4 units post-operatively) and FFP transfusion (Group I = 581.4+/-263.4 mL, Group II = 546.5+/-267.8 mL) in the two groups. We conclude that low volume autologous blood pre-donation does not seem to provide any added advantage as a sole method of reducing allogenic blood requirement in primary elective valve surgery.