More Concern About Blood Transfusion Safety
In the past, we have discussed blood bank safety and concern about blood transfusions during heart surgery.
The Epoch Times just reported, “Mounting evidence that routinely giving blood transfusions to patients could actually increase their risk of death or other complications has prompted calls for medical staff to be more cautious about who they administer transfusions to.”
The U.K. study of almost 9,000 heart surgery patients between 1996 and 2003 supports this finding, and indicates a six-fold increase in the risk of death after 30 days with a three-fold increase in the risk within one year following surgery. Transfusions were also associated with more infections and higher incidences of stroke, heart attack, and kidney failure. These complications were usually linked to a lack of oxygen to body tissues. To read the entire report, please click here.
This is important for patients and caregivers to consider because patients typically have the option of donating their own blood (in advance of the operation) or using the hospital blood bank if a transfusion is required during your surgery.
That said, I found this information very interesting.
Keep on tickin!
Adam Pick is a double, heart valve surgery patient and author of The Patient’s Guide To Heart Valve Surgery, a unique book which integrates the clinical facts of heart valve surgery with the personal experiences of an actual heart valve surgery patient. To learn more about Adam and his heart valve surgery book, click here.
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