Heart Surgery by Dixta - Heart Surgery With No Blood Transfusions
The idea of performing bloodless heart surgery (no blood and/or blood fraction transfusions at the time of surgery) was originated years ago by our need to operate on Jehovah's witnesses while respecting their religious rules against transfusion of any blood product. Those of us who took on this formidable technical and clinical challenge were initially viewed with disbelief by our own colleagues. It did not take long to make them change their minds! We could in fact show that careful preparation of our patients and meticulous surgical techniques were crowned with success. Pretty soon it became obvious that bloodless heart surgery can and should be applied to every patients and not only in those cases dictated by religious rules. More and more patients are requesting bloodless heart surgery for various reasons:
* Fear of getting transfused with infected blood. This is highly unlikely nowadays but some people still fear that there might be some new viruses that are not currently detected by modern blood screening. So, when in doubt, they insist on bloodless heart surgery techniques
* Fear of deadly blood transfusion reactions. If the wrong blood type is transfused, a severe reaction can occur. It is also possible to have a severe allergic reaction to the additives used to preserve a unit of blood in the blood bank
* Fear of inflammatory reactions. These can occur at the time of surgery or while in the intensive care unit after surgery. They cause edema (water retention) in various organs and tissues such as brain, kidneys, lungs, skin, heart and delay postoperative recovery
* They simply do not want "other people's blood" because they feel it is a sort of invasion of their own body
All these fears are obviously well managed by avoiding the need for blood transfusion. Here is a brief rundown of the most common routines to minimize the chance of transfusions:
* Medical treatment to boost each patient's blood levels with medications and vitamins to stimulate own blood production
* Avoidance of medications that cause bleeding at the time of surgery, such as aspirin, plavix, coumadin, fish oil, vitamin E, certain herbal remedies. This has to be done under medical supervision.
* Treat first any source of possible bleeding such as gastric or duodenal ulcers, other intestinal problems, trauma
* Careful and meticulous surgical techniques during the operation with the goal of absolutely minimal bleeding at all times
* Postoperative protocols to avoid wasting any blood, for example by not drawing unnecessary blood tests
This routine approach is best achieved in minimally invasive and bloodless heart surgery centers that have a clear-cut commitment to this type of surgery. All team members are equally involved, including bloodless heart surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, intensivists, ancillary staff. A reputable bloodless heart surgery center can offer these service to the vast majority of their patients and achieve very low blood transfusion rates in all patients and a 0% blood transfusion rate in all Jehovah's witnesses. If you are interested in this type of bloodless surgical solution, make sure you seek the opinion of expert bloodless heart surgeons who have developed a reputation along with a strong clinical routine. It is worth shopping around and even traveling out of town to get the medical care you really want.
The idea of performing bloodless heart surgery (no blood and/or blood fraction transfusions at the time of surgery) was originated years ago by our need to operate on Jehovah's witnesses while respecting their religious rules against transfusion of any blood product. Those of us who took on this formidable technical and clinical challenge were initially viewed with disbelief by our own colleagues. It did not take long to make them change their minds! We could in fact show that careful preparation of our patients and meticulous surgical techniques were crowned with success. Pretty soon it became obvious that bloodless heart surgery can and should be applied to every patients and not only in those cases dictated by religious rules. More and more patients are requesting bloodless heart surgery for various reasons:
* Fear of getting transfused with infected blood. This is highly unlikely nowadays but some people still fear that there might be some new viruses that are not currently detected by modern blood screening. So, when in doubt, they insist on bloodless heart surgery techniques
* Fear of deadly blood transfusion reactions. If the wrong blood type is transfused, a severe reaction can occur. It is also possible to have a severe allergic reaction to the additives used to preserve a unit of blood in the blood bank
* Fear of inflammatory reactions. These can occur at the time of surgery or while in the intensive care unit after surgery. They cause edema (water retention) in various organs and tissues such as brain, kidneys, lungs, skin, heart and delay postoperative recovery
* They simply do not want "other people's blood" because they feel it is a sort of invasion of their own body
All these fears are obviously well managed by avoiding the need for blood transfusion. Here is a brief rundown of the most common routines to minimize the chance of transfusions:
* Medical treatment to boost each patient's blood levels with medications and vitamins to stimulate own blood production
* Avoidance of medications that cause bleeding at the time of surgery, such as aspirin, plavix, coumadin, fish oil, vitamin E, certain herbal remedies. This has to be done under medical supervision.
* Treat first any source of possible bleeding such as gastric or duodenal ulcers, other intestinal problems, trauma
* Careful and meticulous surgical techniques during the operation with the goal of absolutely minimal bleeding at all times
* Postoperative protocols to avoid wasting any blood, for example by not drawing unnecessary blood tests
This routine approach is best achieved in minimally invasive and bloodless heart surgery centers that have a clear-cut commitment to this type of surgery. All team members are equally involved, including bloodless heart surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, intensivists, ancillary staff. A reputable bloodless heart surgery center can offer these service to the vast majority of their patients and achieve very low blood transfusion rates in all patients and a 0% blood transfusion rate in all Jehovah's witnesses. If you are interested in this type of bloodless surgical solution, make sure you seek the opinion of expert bloodless heart surgeons who have developed a reputation along with a strong clinical routine. It is worth shopping around and even traveling out of town to get the medical care you really want.
