Clinical Trials of Erythropoietin with Autologous Blood Transfusion in Orthopaedic Surgery

Abstract

We have performed autologous blood donation before orthopaedic surgery using recombinant human erythropoietin. Twenty-five of 27 patients (including 4 RA patients) had their operation with a prearranged donation, whereas 21 of 28 patients had their operation without pre-treatment with erythropoietin. The anemia recovery rate increased 29.3% in the patients (12.4% in the case of RA) who received erythropoietin, and not at all (0%) in the patients who hadn't. None of the patients receiving it had side effects. Thus, autologous blood donation with erythropoietin is suitable in orthopaedic surgery.