Kyobu geka. The Japanese journal of thoracic surgery
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Comparative Study
[Effect of blood conservation in open-heart surgery: a comparison of 3 different methods].
Conventional blood conservation techniques have been insufficient to decrease blood transfusion requirement in open-heart surgery. Blood conservation and erythropoietin administration were performed to avoid homologous blood transfusion. Intraoperative autotransfusion has been routinely used in cardiac operations with cardiopulmonary bypass in our hospital. ⋯ Homologous blood transfusion was avoided in 83% of group I patients, in 90% of group II, in 82% of group III, and 29% of group IV. In addition, in group II the hemoglobin value at the time of discharge was significantly higher than those of other groups (p < 0.05-0.01). Thus, conventional blood conservation techniques plus subcutaneous administration of erythropoietin was very effective to increase the rate of "non-blood" open-heart surgery.