Open AccessPractical Limits of Acute Normovolemic Hemodilution Status and Future Prospects
Author(s) -
Shander Aryeh
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
transfusion alternatives in transfusion medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1778-428X
pISSN - 1295-9022
DOI - 10.1111/j.1778-428x.2000.tb00337.x
Subject(s) - medicine , blood conservation , anesthesia , autologous blood , blood transfusion , reduction (mathematics) , blood loss , intensive care medicine , surgical procedures , surgery , red blood cell , geometry , mathematics
SUMMARY Acute normovolemic hemodilution (AN H) is an intraoperative blood conservation technique whereby fresh autologouswhole blood iswithdrawn from a patient during the induction of anesthesia or prior to the start of surgery and concurrently replaced with an acellular fluid resulting in red cell massdilution. The reduction in circulating red cells results in a reduction in the number of red cells lost due to surgical bleeding. Although some controversy exists regarding the efficacy and benefits of this procedure 1,2 , it has been utilized by numerouscliniciansfor several decades to avoid allogeneic blood transfusion in a wide variety of procedures that typically involve significant blood lossand subsequent blood replacement 3–9 . It may not be appropriate for patients undergoing procedures with a low risk for transfusion. Generally speaking, AN H is a safe and cost‐effective alternative to allogeneic blood transfusion 10,11 that is currently underutilized 5 and deservesto be more fully investigated and exploited.