NoBlood

Sharon Grant · #1 (**permalink**) 03-20-2006, 07:26 AM

Fayette residents hear about bloodless medicine
By Carol Kekela, Herald-Standard
03/19/2006

For those in need of a blood transfusion and whose religious convictions or individual concerns prohibit the process, an alternative program is being offered by Allegheny General Hospital (AGH) in Pittsburgh.

More than 200 people from the Fayette County area gathered at the Route 40 Holiday Inn in Uniontown Saturday to learn about a unique program at AGH that offers patients in need of surgery the option of forgoing blood transfusions.

"Whether due to religious convictions or concerns over the safety of blood transfusions, a growing number of people in our country are expressing an interest in bloodless medicine programs. At Allegheny General, we have established one of the nation's most comprehensive centers to accommodate such patients," said Perry Doebler, a coordinator of AGH's Center for Bloodless Medicine and Surgery.

The alternatives are all available at AGH and for those specifically to the Jehovah's Witness congregations since religious convictions prohibit blood transfusions.

Several other reasons why the alternatives are desirable to a patient are because it avoids contracting a disease, a reaction, quicker recovery, lower costs and lower risks of cancer.

"Most blood transfusion patients fear diseases such as HIV, HCV, Hepatitis B and others,'' Doebler said. This program takes away those chances.''

The rates, Doebler explained, for getting HIV from a blood transfusion is one in 1.7 million; HCV, 1 in 1.5 million; and Hepatitis B, one in 166,700.

The Center for Bloodless Medicine and Surgery at AGH was established in 1998.

One process involves an intraoperative blood salvage or the "cell-saver system,'' whereby the system collects and returns the patient's own blood lost during surgery.

Another technique, Erythropoietin, involves a synthetic hormone, Procit, that stimulates the body's ability to produce red blood cells.

"By treating anemia and increasing the red blood cell supply before surgery, the hemoglobin level is increased and remains higher during and after surgery.''

This process would be done at 21 and 14 days before surgery, the day before surgery and the day of surgery, thus eliminating the need for having blood stored from oneself or relying on blood from a blood bank.

Other measures include Hemodilution, a temporary replacement of blood with intravenous fluids to reduce blood loss, volume expanders whereby the blood is "watered down" the blood contains a lower concentration of red blood cells and the amount of (cell) lost is reduced.

And other alternatives include use of an Argon beam coagulator, a blood clotting process; Electrocautery, use of heat to stop vessels from bleeding; blood-conservation, micro-sampling, whereby very small amounts of blood are taken for testing; skin monitoring, a non-invasive method of tracking oxygen levels during surgery; pharmacological agents; and meticulous surgical techniques to minimize blood loss.

(Continued on The Herald Standard News ) http://www.heraldstandard.com/site/n...d=480247&rfi=6