Severe neurofibromatosis kyphoscoliosis in a Jehovah's Witness. Anterior and posterior spine fusion without blood transfusion

A case is presented of a 22-year-old female Jehovah's Witness with severe kyphoscoliosis, who was successfully treated surgically by carefully staged posterior and anterior spine fusions completed with the use of intraoperative hemodilation techniques. Three spinal procedures were carried out at intervals, and no blood transfusion was given at any of them.     

Anaesthesia for bilateral mastectomy in a Jehovah's Witness patient with epilepsy and review of alternatives to homologous blood transfusion

The anaesthetic management of a Jehovah's Witness patient for bilateral mastectomy for carcinoma of the breast is described. The patient is also a known epileptic patient who developed fits the night before surgery. Surgery was re-scheduled for one week later to allow control of the epilepsy. Surgery was carried out under general anaesthesia. The patient refused blood transfusion. Modified normovolaemic haemodilution was the alternative to homologous blood transfusion used in the patient. This was safe except for the post-operative morbidity due to severe anaemia in the patient. The surgical outcome was good. The safety of not transfusing blood in Jehovah's Witness patient for surgical procedures for which blood transfusion is needed is well illustrated by this case. A review of alternatives to homologous blood transfusion is done.     

Acute hemodilution in an anemic Jehovah's Witness during extensive abdominal wall resection and reconstruction

A 47-year-old anemic Jehovah's Witness with Gardner's syndrome presented with a large abdominal wall desmoid tumor requiring extensive resection with a musculocutaneous flap reconstruction. At surgery a technique of acute limited normovolemic hemodilution (ALNH) was used to minimize blood loss and avoid blood transfusions. Complications that follow transfusions of homologous blood are reviewed, and a recommendation is made to use ALNH because of its advantages in those patients in whom significant blood loss is expected.     

Total hip arthroplasty in Jehovah's Witnesses without blood transfusion

One hundred patients who were Jehovah's Witnesses underwent total hip replacement without transfusion, of which eighty-nine procedures were performed under hypotensive anesthesia. Of these eighty-nine patients, sixty-five had not had previous hip surgery and sustained an average intraoperative blood loss of 450 milliliters. This was a 43 per cent reduction in blood loss as compared with a control group of patients, who were not Jehovah's Witnesses and who had total hip replacement under normotensive anesthesia. Twenty-four of the eighty-nine patients who were Jehovah's Witnesses and had had previous hip surgery underwent total hip arthroplasty under hypotensive anesthesia and sustained an average intraoperative blood loss of 680 milliliters, which was 30 per cent less than that of similar matched controls who were operated on under normotensive anesthesia. The postoperative blood loss in the patients who had had hypotensive anesthesia was not increased compared with that in the controls. Eleven Jehovah's Witnesses who were not candidates for hypotensive anesthesia had a total hip replacement under normotensive techniques. Factors other than hypotensive anesthesia that aided in reducing blood loss were careful surgical technique, meticulous hemostasis, and well planned surgery. There were six complications, one of which was possibly related to hypotensive anesthesia, and no deaths.     

Rupture of chronic type B aortic dissection in a Jehovah's Witness: successful surgical repair without blood transfusion

The patient, a 55-year-old female Jehovah's Witness who had suffered type B aortic dissection since the age of 53 years, presented with enlargement of the false lumen in the distal aortic arch and was subsequently admitted to our hospital. While hospitalized, her enlarged false lumen ruptured and she underwent replacement of the distal aortic arch and descending thoracic aorta without blood transfusion. Blood conservation strategies for this patient included the following: 1) meticulous hemostasis when incising muscle or soft tissue, 2) minimal use of gauze and discard suckers, 3) exclusive use of a cell salvage device "from skin to skin," 4) low-prime cardiopulmonary bypass, 5) minimal laboratory blood sampling, and 6) preoperative and postoperative erythropoietin treatment. Hemoglobin (Hb) values were 12.5, 15.5, 10.0, and 9.7 g/dL on admission, before rupture, after rupture, and just after the operation, respectively. The patient had an uneventful postoperative course, except for prolonged rehabilitation. The postoperative lowest Hb value was 5.2 g/dL on postoperative day 5, and the Hb value at hospital discharge (postoperative day 55) was 11.0 g/dL. Our experience with blood conservation surgery on this Jehovah's Witness patient suggests that ruptured chronic type B aortic dissection can be safely repaired on bypass through a left thoracotomy with no blood transfusion if the preoperative Hb value is >10.0 g/dL.     

The Ross operation in a Jehovah's Witness: a paradigm for heart surgery in children without transfusion

A 3-year-old 18 kg male child of the Jehovah's Witness faith presented with severe aortic regurgitation. A successful Ross procedure was performed using a pulmonary autograft, without the use of blood or blood product transfusion. Blood conservation strategy included: (1) preoperative treatment with recombinant human erythropoietin; (2) intraoperative strategies, including technical modifications to the Ross procedure, and the prophylactic use of fibrin glue; (3) utilization of a heparin-bonded cardiopulmonary bypass circuit and assisted venous drainage; and 4) the use of prebypass phlebotomy, cell-saving device and autotransfusion. The patient was discharged home on postoperative day 7 with a hemoglobin level of 11.9.     

Elective coronary artery bypass surgery without homologous blood transfusion. Early results with an inexpensive blood conservation program

Restriction of donor blood transfusions in cardiac surgery should reduce risks of infective contamination and antigenicity. We report a systemic, simple and inexpensive blood conservation program used for 121 consecutive patients who underwent elective coronary artery bypass surgery without need for homologous blood transfusion. The left internal mammary artery was grafted in all cases, in addition to saphenous vein grafts. Autologous, heparinized blood was removed intraoperatively, pre-bypass, and returned to the patient at conclusion of the extracorporeal circulation. The volume remaining in the oxygenator and the tubing set was returned without cell processing or hemofiltration. Using the hard-shell cardiotomy reservoir from the heart-lung machine, autotransfusion of the shed mediastinal blood was continued hourly up to 18 hours after surgery. The mean postoperative mediastinal bleeding was 551 +/- 206 ml, of which 505 +/- 218 ml was autotransfused. No re-exploration for bleeding was required and no homologous red-cell transfusions were given. Five patients each received 1-2 units of fresh frozen plasma because of prolonged bleeding time. Morbidity was low and mortality nil. At discharge the mean hemoglobin was 12.0 +/- 1.4 g/dl and the hematocrit 36.0 +/- 4.2%.     

Lung transplantation in a Jehovah's Witness.

Patients of the Jehovah's Witness faith generally do not accept transfusions of blood or blood products but some will accept cadaveric organs for transplantation. We report a left single lung transplantation in a 48-year-old Hispanic female with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and secondary pulmonary hypertension. We believe this is the first reported case of lung transplantation in a Jehovah's Witness.     

Autologous blood transfusion with erythropoietin in heart surgery in an anemic patient]

A 78-year-old woman was diagnosed as having three-vessel coronary artery disease. A coronary artery bypass operation with autologous blood transfusion was indicated because of the irregular antibody and because homologous blood transfusion would lead to hemolytic complications. Since she had anemia (hemoglobin level, 10.7 g/dl) and autologous blood could not be collected, recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) and iron preparations were administered intravenously every day. The hemoglobin level reached 12.1 g/dl two weeks after administration, and then autologous blood was donated. The first 1200 ml of blood was stored frozen, and the last 400 ml as liquid in consideration of the blood preservation period. Surgery was performed uneventfully after 8 weeks of rHuEPO administration. No homologous blood transfusion was required during and after surgery. By using rHuEPO, it is thus possible to perform heart surgery without homologous blood transfusion even in patients with anemia, for whom blood transfusions have been considered necessary.     

Use of recombinant human erythropoietin (r-HuEPO) in a Jehovah's Witness refusing transfusion of blood products: case report

Recombinant human erythropoietin (r-HuEPO) administration to a Jehovah's witness refusing blood transfusions increased her nadir packed cell volume from 13% to 37% and reticulocyte count from 2% to 17.7%. R-HuEPO may provide an alternative safe and effective therapy in life-threatening anemia when blood transfusions are unacceptable to the patient.     

Open-heart surgery in Jehovah's Witness patients

Open-heart surgery has been performed since 1975 on 25 patients who are Jehovah's Witnesses by religion. The patients' ages ranged from 6–60 years, and their body weights from 18–51 kg. Surgical procedures included correction of congenital heart disease in 14 patients and valve repair or replacement in 11. Six procedures were reoperations. The lowest mean haematocrits, during perfusion and the postoperative period, were 22.7% (range 15.0–31.0%) and 27% (range 16.0–36.0%), respectively. Twenty-four patients survived and are alive and well. One patient died of low output failure before discharge. The blood return system reduced blood loss. Five of the patients who underwent cardiac surgery received recombinant erythropoietin before and after surgery, leading to higher postoperative haematocrits. In one patient, a haematocrit which fell to 16.9% after surgery was raised to 27% by administration of erythropoietin, without blood transfusion. In two recent cases, high doses of aprotinin were used during surgery, resulting in better haemostasis after cardiopulmonary bypass.