Ce. Baker et al., PERIOPERATIVE CARE OF A JEHOVAH-WITNESS WITH A LEAKING ABDOMINAL AORTIC-ANEURYSM, British Journal of Anaesthesia, 81(2), 1998, pp. 256-259
We describe a Jehovah's Witness patient who survived emergency repair
of a leaking abdominal aortic aneurysm. In accordance with his beliefs
, the patient expressed a wish not to be given blood and this was resp
ected. At completion of surgery, his haemoglobin was 2.8 g dl(-1) and
his albumin was 8 g l(-1). He was kept heavily sedated in the intensiv
e care unit and treated with i.v. iron, folinic acid and s.c. epoetin
alfa. He was discharged to the high dependency unit 18 days after surg
ery with a haemoglobin of 6.4 g dl(-1) and an albumin of 27 g l(-1). A
fter rehabilitation, he was discharged home approximately 14 weeks aft
er surgery.