To the Editor:—Acute normovolemic hemodilution (ANH) causes a reduction in arterial oxygen content because of reduced hemoglobin concentration. The primary compensatory mechanism during ANH is an increase in cardiac output to maintain systemic oxygen delivery. Therefore, the lower limit of an acceptable hemoglobin concentration is related to how low hemoglobin can be reduced without jeopardizin...

UNLABELLED Since 1993, we have progressively adopted three techniques to reduce transfusion requirements during major orthopedic surgery: red-cell scavenging, acute normovolemic hemodilution, and active patient warming. We retrospectively evaluated all 821 elective hip and knee arthroplasties performed in our institution beginning with July 1993. Target minimal hematocrits were guided by patien...

Hemorrhagic shock is the most common form of shock encountered in obstetric practice. Interventions that may limit transfusion requirements include normovolemic hemodilution, use of recombinant activated factor VII, selective embolization of pelvic vessels by interventional radiology, and the use of the cell saver intraoperatively. Current understanding of the mechanisms of acute coagulopathy c...

BACKGROUND Increases in myocardial blood flow preserve myocardial oxygenation during moderate acute normovolemic hemodilution. Hypocapnic alkalosis (HA) is known to cause coronary vasoconstriction and increase hemoglobin-oxygen affinity. We evaluated whether these effects would compromise myocardial oxygenation during hemodilution. METHODS Eighteen anesthetized dogs were studied. Myocardial b...