Thread: Blood Patch

I have had the term "blood patch" explained to me by a physician, and have questions regarding my stand as one of Jehovah's Witnesses and this procedure. Can anyone shed some light?

What specifically are your questions?

I have delt with one J.W patient who was advised to have a blood patch but she refused as the blood was leaving the body then being but in the epidural space. I don't really understand what you want to know but hope that helps. Not come across any more J.W's having this procedure so I am guessing they don't accept this procedure?

For a Jehovah's Witness this is a personal matter. Some will accept and others will not.

Adding to Todd's response a simple explanation of the blood patch may cause many Jehovah's Witnesses to refuse this procedure. The reason being that the procedure explanation may not be enough information for the patient to connect to their spiritual beliefs regarding blood transfusion. This is the perfect example of the need for some type of connection between the medical and the spiritual.

Here are some points that I inform JW patients regarding a blood patch:
1) it is a conscience matter.
2) it is indicated on the JW DPA form #4, procedures involving the use of one's blood.
3) it is similar in theory to other procedures they may be familiar with namely cell saver where blood leaves the vascular system and is reused.
4) with the blood patch the patients blood is used topically as opposed to re- entering the circulatory system.
5) www.watchtower.org

In many instances simply explaining a procedure or technique does not ensure informed consent. The patient may need help connecting and applying the information to their religious convictions.

Very good explanation, Deborah. I had a patient that needed this procedure and was uncertain about whether she could conscientiously do it. She lived with a terrible headache for a week, then came back to the clinic and had the procedure done. In this case, she may have violated her own conscience in order to cure the headache. After going through this experience, a brother told me there is a procedure that would make this more acceptable to Witness patients using an IV tube to circulate the blood to where it's needed. Has anyone else heard of this procedure, and if so, would they be willing to share it with this group to pass on to our practitioners?

Is this Platlet Gel you are discussing ?

Thank everyone for their replies! I am pleased to hear that there may be a way to keep the blood from "leaving the body" so to speak, by use of an IV tube, and any information on that will be welcome. I will not be needing this procedure, but was made aware of it while suffering from a cerebral spinal fluid leak after back fusion surgery. After six weeks of the most excruciating headache I am incapable of describing, I had to have another surgery to repair the leak. Now I am starting the long and slow recovery processs.

Question - by "Blood Patch" ... are we talking about a procedure where autologous blood is used on a patch at a wound site to, say, allow the platelets to encourage clotting, thereby regaining haemostatis?

Here is an article I wrote for a newsletter back in 1991.

"WHAT IS A BLOOD PATCH?
A respected anesthesiologist at the Center for Bloodless Medicine and Surgery, Anastacio Saavedra, MD. constantly strives to improve medical techniques for Jehovah's Witnesses. He recently developed a new method of stopping spinal fluid leaks which sometimes occur after a patient undergoes a spinal tap or spinal anesthesia. Spinal fluid leaks may cause severe, post spinal tap headache.

Traditional treatment for a spinal fluid leak is to draw blood from the patient's arm and inject it into the leak site- which causes clotting, then sealing of the leak. Of course, this "re-injection" is not acceptable to Jehovah's Witnesses.

Dr. Saavedra overcomes this problem by using tubing to create an uninterrupted flow of blood from the arm to the spinal area. The results of both techniques are identical, but Dr. Saavedra's method satisfies the needs of Jehovah's Witnesses."

Unless there is a new and better way to do this that someone uses, this would be the same today.