title: Autologous blood transfusion in oral and maxillofacial surgery patients with the use of erythropoietin.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Autologous blood transfusion presents few infectious or immunologic side effects. The aim of the present study was to determine the impact of autologous blood transfusion with or without recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) in patients who underwent elective maxillofacial operations.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy eight consecutive patients (29 men and 49 women) underwent elective maxillofacial operations during the years 1990-95.
  
  
  METHODS
  The patients were randomly assigned to three groups: In group 1, 30 patients preoperatively underwent autologous blood predonation with intravenous injection of erythropoietin 600 lU/kg after each blood predonation and autologous blood transfusion intraoperatively; in group 2, 28 patients underwent the same procedure without erythropoietin and in group 3, 20 patients underwent homologous transfusion serving as control group. All patients received ferrous sulphate daily by mouth, preoperatively until one week postoperatively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Group 1 patients showed higher levels of haematocrit, haemoglobin and red blood cell count pre- and postoperatively than the group 2 patients. It was also shown that the use of rHuEPO contributed to an improvement of the blood parameters of the patients in the group 1 compared with those of the patients in groups 2 and 3.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Evangelismos Hospital, University of Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Christopoulou
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Derartinian
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hatzidimitriou
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Iatrou
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D001804:Blood Transfusion, Autologous; D017558:Elective Surgical Procedures; D004906:Erythrocyte Count; D004921:Erythropoietin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005147:Facial Bones / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005296:Ferrous Compounds / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D006400:Hematocrit; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D056948:Orthognathic Surgical Procedures; D010027:Osteotomy; D011292:Premedication; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D013223:Statistics as Topic
chemical_list: D005296:Ferrous Compounds; D006454:Hemoglobins; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D004921:Erythropoietin; C020748:ferrous sulfate