LOWER HOMOLOGOUS BLOOD REQUIREMENT IN AUTOLOGOUS BLOOD-DONORS AFTER TREATMENT WITH RECOMBINANT-HUMAN-ERYTHROPOIETIN

The risk of blood-borne diseases has substantially increased the use o f autologous blood transfusion. Many autologous donors, however, still need homologous transfusions. To find out whether recombinant erythro poietin (rhEPO) reduces requirements for homologous blood transfusion, we carried out a randomised, controlled trial, in which patients were stratified according to blood volume. We studied 95 autologous blood donors undergoing elective hip surgery. 50 patients were randomly assi gned 500 U/kg rhEPO subcutaneously twice a week for 3 weeks, and 45 pa tients received no treatment (control group). The patients each donate d two units of blood before surgery. Only 5 (10%) rhEPO-treated patien ts received homologous transfusions compared with 16 (36%) controls (p <0.01). rhEPO was most useful in patients with a blood volume below 4 L and an estimated blood loss below 2 L or with a blood volume of 4-5 L and blood loss of 1-2 L. Continued administration of rhEPO caused no further increase in reticulocyte counts after the fourth injection, w hich was accompanied by a pronounced depletion of storage iron. rhEPO treatment had no effect on renal function, platelet count, or blood pr essure. Subcutaneous rhEPO is an effective and safe way to reduce expo sure to homologous blood in autologous donors. Its use can be restrict ed to a subpopulation of autologous blood donors, which improves the c ost-effectiveness of this expensive approach.