HIGH-RISK CARDIAC-SURGERY IN JEHOVAH-WITNESSES

Much routine cardiovascular surgery can be performed without blood tra nsfusion, Complex cardiac surgical procedures, however, especially reo perations, are often associated with heavy blood loss and large transf usion requirements. Anaesthetists and surgeons caring for patients who are Jehovah's Witnesses may be unwilling to offer such high risk surg ery without recourse to blood transfusion. We report six such cases wh ich were successfully performed without the use of blood or blood prod ucts and discuss the techniques used Three of the patients described h ad been refused surgery, on their terms, at other centres. We believe that no patient should be denied potentially life saving surgery on th e grounds of excessive risk without blood transfusion.