• Kae Ito, Motohiro Koyama, and Keishi Ueyama.
• Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Japanese Red Cross Asahikawa Hospital, Asahikawa, Japan.
• Kyobu Geka. 2019 Feb 1; 72 (2): 136-139.

AbstractCardiac surgery in Jehovah's witnesses is challenging due to their refusal of blood transfusion. Furthermore, dialysis patients often suffer from anemia and are also prone to bleeding. We performed offpump coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) [OPCAB] on a Jehovah's witness male patient on hemodialysis. His preoperative hemoglobin level was around 10.0 g/dl. We used cell saver-collected blood as much as possible during operation. His postoperative course was uneventful with the lowest hemoglobin level of 7.2 g/dl using iron supplements and erythropoietin. This case indicates that intraoperative blood salvage and perioperative management of anemia make OPCAB without blood transfusion possible even in Jehovah's witness hemodialysis patients, when their preoperative hemoglobin levels are maintained greater than 10.0 g/dl.

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