{"id":5394,"date":"2025-04-02T00:43:51","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T00:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/?page_id=5394"},"modified":"2025-11-03T20:08:38","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T20:08:38","slug":"blood-transfusions","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/blood-transfusions\/","title":{"rendered":"Blood Transfusions: What Should Heart Surgery Patients Know?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The advances in heart valve surgery have made it a safe procedure that can give patients a longer and better quality of life. However, unexpected complications can happen, even in the most straightforward cases, leaving patients and their families confused and frustrated. Understanding the potential for complications and how surgeons handle them is vital to preparing for and recovering from heart valve surgery.<\/p>\n<p>Sandy, a member of our patient community, recently sent us a question about a complication she experienced with her surgery. She asked, \u201cI had mitral valve repair with numerous complications. I needed a blood transfusion. When is a blood transfusion advised? What are the symptoms? How often do they happen? What are the pros and cons? And what about blood banking before surgery?\u201d I was thrilled to have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Edward-Soltesz-Cleveland-Ohio.php\">Dr. Edward Soltesz<\/a>, join us to answer Sandy\u2019s question. Dr. Soltesz is a leading cardiac surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/f9cmQtna00U?rel=0&#038;si=JASDnxPDFz-RfA1U\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>About Blood Transfusions and Heart Surgery<\/h2>\n<p>Here are key insights shared by Dr. Soltesz:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Most patients having cardiac surgery won\u2019t need a blood transfusion. \u201cDr. Soltesz said, \u201cSandy, I\u2019m sorry you had the complications you did. You obviously had a major surgery, but I\u2019m hoping you\u2019re doing well now. You raised an interesting question, though, and that is blood product utilization. The majority of cardiac surgery patients undergo heart surgery without any need for a blood product transfusion. So, that\u2019s first and foremost, and I think it\u2019s important to recognize for all patients.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5399 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/blood-transfusions-key-point.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Soltesz Blood Transfusions Key Point\" width=\"650\" height=\"359\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Why would a patient need a blood transfusion? \u201cThe need for a blood product transfusion can be for several reasons,\u201d said Dr. Soltesz. \u201cIf your blood count drops to a critical level due to possibly bleeding during surgery, the team often will administer a blood product.\u201d Dr. Soltesz explained that they often give either blood or coagulation factors to help stop the bleeding in certain situations. The goal is to allow you to recover faster through your ICU and recovery phase- even at home.<\/li>\n<li>There are positive and negative aspects of receiving blood transfusions. Dr. Soltesz said, \u201cThe issue with blood product utilization is that it comes with a risk.\u201d He explained that they know from 25 years of studies, looking extensively at blood product utilization in surgery, that when a patient receives a blood product transfusion, some positives and negatives accompany it. \u201cPositives relate to the here and now, the immediate phase and getting them through the ICU faster, back home and recovering faster. On the flip side, we know that in certain situations, there may be a penalty in the long term. We know that blood product transfusion can impact long-term survival. And that is for all types of surgeries, not only cardiac surgery, and understanding is critical.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5400 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/why-use-blood-transfusions.jpg\" alt=\"Why Do Surgeons Use Blood Transfusions?\" width=\"650\" height=\"363\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How can the need for blood transfusions be prevented? \u201cPreventing blood product transfusion starts before surgery,\u201d said Dr. Soltesz. \u201cWe at the Cleveland Clinic have just started a new center called the Center for Bloodless Surgery. It is the first of its kind where we bring experts from all disciplines together preoperatively, including hematology, anesthesia, surgery, and critical care, for patients with low blood counts. We ideally optimize those patients with a number of both medications and blood banking options. There are many options available, but I think it is a very important question because most patients don\u2019t need blood and don\u2019t receive blood during a standard open heart surgery. If they do, often it is because their blood count has fallen too low, and they need support. Identifying patients needing that preoperatively and mitigating that risk up front is key to success.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Thanks to Dr. Soltesz and Cleveland Clinic!<\/h2>\n<p>On behalf of Sandy and all the patients in our community, thank you, Dr. Edward Soltesz, for everything you and your team are doing at Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio!<\/p>\n<p>Related Links:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Edward-Soltesz-Cleveland-Ohio.php\"> Edward Soltesz, MD: Heart Surgeon in Cleveland, Ohio<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/complex-high-risk\/\">Surgeon Roundtable: Complex and High-Risk Heart Valve Surgery<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Keep on tickin,<br \/>\nAdam<\/p>\n<p>P.S. For the deaf and hard-of-hearing members of our patient community, we have provided a written transcript of our interview with Dr. Soltesz below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"cms.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"class_list":["post-5394","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-before-surgery"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5394"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6220,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5394\/revisions\/6220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}