Use of erythropoietin for bloodless surgery in a Jehovah's witness infant.
We present a case of surgery in a 2-month-old infant of the Jehovah's Witness (JW) faith weighing 2.8 kg scheduled for left upper lobectomy because of congenital lobar emphysema. He presented with physiological anaemia (haematocrit 33.8%) in accordance with his age. Because of the relative emergency of surgery, a short erythropoietin course was instituted. Recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) at a dosage of 180 U x kg-1x day-1 was administered for 10 days preoperatively and for 4 days postoperatively. Iron was administered orally and intravenously over the entire perioperative period. No side-effects from either erythropoietin or intravenously administered iron were observed. To our knowledge, this is the first case published of a short perioperative rHuEPO course in an infant.
Pérez-Ferrer
A
A
The Department of Paediatric Anaesthesiology, La Paz Children's University Hospital, Madrid, Spain. a.perezf@teleline.es
De Vicente
J
J
Gredilla
E
E
García-Vega
M I
MI
Bourgeois
P
P
Goldman
L J
LJ
D000740:Anemia / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy; D016063:Blood Loss, Surgical / Q000517:prevention & control; D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000523:psychology*; D004646:Emphysema / Q000097:blood / Q000601:surgery*; D004921:Erythropoietin / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006400:Hematocrit; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007501:Iron / Q000097:blood / Q000627:therapeutic use; D033221:Jehovah's Witnesses / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D011182:Postoperative Care / Q000379:methods; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000379:methods; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012068:Religion and Medicine
D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D004921:Erythropoietin; D007501:Iron