title: Subcutaneous recombinant human erythropoietin and autologous blood donation before coronary artery bypass surgery.
abstract: Conventional therapies with recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) to sustain preoperative autologous blood collection entail high doses of the drug at short intervals. To evaluate the efficacy of a single weekly dose of rHuEPO for autologous blood collection, we randomly assigned 24 male patients scheduled for coronary artery bypass surgery to receive 400 IU/kg rHuEPO subcutaneously once a week or iron only. Patients were examined weekly and a total of up to 4 units of autologous blood were obtained if the hemoglobin level exceeded 12 g/dL. Patients receiving rHuEPO had consistently higher hemoglobin values than those receiving iron only (P < 0.001). Consequently, more autologous red cells were obtained from this group (776 +/- 49 mL vs 682 +/- 91 mL; P < 0.05). One patient receiving rHuEPO and eight in the control group required homologous blood at surgery (P < 0.01). These results suggest that 400 IU/kg rHuEPO administered subcutaneously once a week efficiently stimulates erythropoiesis and compensates the hemoglobin decrease after autologous blood donation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, University of Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Kulier
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gombotz
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fuchs
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Vuckovic
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Metzler
mesh_terms: D001804:Blood Transfusion, Autologous; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass; D004920:Erythropoiesis / Q000187:drug effects*; D004921:Erythropoietin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D007501:Iron / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011897:Random Allocation
chemical_list: D004921:Erythropoietin; D007501:Iron