Thread: Trial results HBOC's

I'm curious to know of any updates on the trial results of Hemoglobin-based Oxygen carriers that have been tested. I'm sure they have improved but, have they been accepted as safe to be used in general practice ?

HBOC-201 was found safe in large phase III Trial so says Denise Grady in Health Day News published June 20,2008.

Look it up in the June issue of the Journal of Trauma: Injury, Infection, and Critical Care.

She wrote that patients could receive up to 10 units of the substitute or unlimited blood transfusions otherwise. The article spoke of 688 patients 18 years old and up, receiving elective orthopedic surgery.

They were evaluated daily and 6 weeks after the surgery.

It is a hemoglobin based oxygen carrier.

I didn't read the article but it should be noted that once the 10 unit threshold is reached with blood transfusions, there is a 50% mortality. Are there any studies looking at bloodless statistics?

Anecdotally, none of my patients have died, ever. The patient with the lowest count was 2.9 and the average low looking at the numbers below 5.5 (the oxy hgb dissociative curve) was about Hgb 4.5. More women than men.

Oh yea, none of the hospitals I worked in were bloodless either, just wonderful and caring doctors. Well, a couple with bad attitudes but still wonderful and probably deep down somewhere caring or they would not have taken on the patients and succeeded.