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Monday, February 24, 2003In the St. Vincent operating room, the only outward clue that the hip replacement was a ``bloodless surgery'' was a bag of blood hanging near the head of the table. It was attached to the patient's wrist using a needle with a V-shaped connection. The blood had been pumped from the patient through one branch of the V before the surgery started. After the operation was over, the blood would be returned to the patient through the other branch of the V. It was one continuous loop, from the patient's arm in one line, into the bag, and back to the arm in the other line. In essence, said Dr. John Bastulli, chief of anesthesiology at St. Vincent's, the blood never lost contact with the body. A patient undergoing bloodless surgery is treated with a drug, such as Procrit, which boosts the production of red blood cells, in the three weeks prior to surgery. On the day of the surgery, one or two pints of blood are taken in the operating room before the surgery begins. The resulting loss of blood volume in the patient's body is replenished with saline. It's called hemodilution. And the result is that there's a supply of blood, rich in red blood cells, ready to go back into the patient after surgery. Plus, during the operation, the patient's blood is diluted, so fewer blood cells are lost from bleeding. Ultimately, it means the surgery takes place without using blood from an outside source. And double red blood cell collection: Double red blood cell collection -- called 2RBC -- could help balance the supply with that demand. As the name implies, the process collects twice as many red blood cells in one sitting -- two units as compared to the one unit collected in a traditional, whole blood donation. In 2RBC, blood is drawn into a special machine that separates the red blood cells from the plasma. The plasma is combined with saline and pumped back into the patient -- allowing more red blood cells to be harvested without severely lowering a patient's blood volume. Because most of the fluid is replaced, there's no dizziness that tends to occur with traditional blood collections. Plus, the needle used is smaller. Collection takes about 20 to 25 minutes longer. Neither procedure is widespread. The double red blood cell collection requires the use of a machine to concentrate the blood, and that machine costs thousands of dollars. Not exactly something that can be done in the local union hall during blood drives. posted by Sydney on 2/24/2003 06:14:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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