NoBlood - View Single Post - Pennsylvania - Geisinger Finds Bloodless Surgery Make Faster Recovery

Jan B. Wade · #1 (**permalink**) 12-23-2004, 03:12 PM

http://www.wnep.com/Global/story.asp?S=2725271

Wednesday, December 22 4:27pm By Jill Garrett
Geisinger Finds Bloodless Surgery Make Faster Recovery

The nation's blood shortage - moved a major medical center in our area to reduce the demand for blood transfusions. The program is helping patients recover faster.

As Baby Boomers age, experts predict the demand for blood used in surgeries will increase. An area hospital found a way to lower that demand and speed up patient recovery at the same time.

Geisinger Medical Center near Danville started a Blood Conservation Program, or bloodless surgery.

It means patients taking part in the program will receive no blood transfusions, or have some of their drawn ahead of time in case of an emergency.

One patient, named Bill, has a wound on his knee that isn't healing. He had some of his blood platelets drawn before his surgery, so it could be used later, to boost the healing process.

Nurse Anesthetist Art Richer is treating the wound, "We'll place a gauze on Bill's knee, and the gauze will keep all of this white platelet rich substance, which contains tremendous growth factors and proteins, to accelerate the healing process. Bill's wound will close quicker than it normally would."

Bill is impressed with the treatment, "I think it's great, since I started back on this, it's unbelievable, how it's healing."

There are some patients automatically enrolled in the program. Those include high risk expectant mothers, orthopedic patients and cardiac patients.

Dr. Susan Baro, a trauma surgeon, heads up the program and is seeing good results. It's all about weighing the benefits and the risks. "I don't want to say blood's bad, we give a lot of blood. I'm on the trauma surgeon, we use blood all the time. Blood does carry some inherent risks, if those risks are 1-in-100,000, if you're the one that gets something from the blood, then it was 100-percent for you."

This doctor finds the no blood transfusion program is helping other high risk patients. "High risk OB patients. These are young people who were most likely going to need blood. If you can avoid blood, at all costs, then these people are way ahead," Baro finds.

With a blood shortage nationwide - surgeons here find if you can keep just one person from being transfused, who doesn't need it, it makes a difference.