Bloodless surgery

The last twenty years have witnessed a surge of interest in bloodless surgery, for a variety of reasons. Jehovah's Witnessesreject blood transfusions on religious grounds; others may be afraid of bloodborn diseases, such as hepatitisand AIDS.

Surgery may involve the use of techniques such as cell salvage, a device which recycles and cleans blood from a patient during an operation and redirects it into the patient's body.

Other methods include the use of blood substitutes, which at present do not carry oxygen but expand the volume of the blood to prevent shock. Blood substitutes which do carry oxygen are also under development.

Laser or sonic scalpels work by minimizing the bleeding during an operation, as do minimally invasivesurgical techniques.

Doctors may also use noninvasive techniques as well.

Further information about bloodless surgery

• Thomas Kickler M.D. on Bloodless Surgery
• Cell Salvage
• Time Magazine Special Report
• Outline of techniques used
• Report on a conference in Moscow concerning bloodless surgery (Jehovah's Witness website)
• Bloodless surgery helps save lives - Imperial College, London
• noblood.org - A 'virtual community' for healthcare professionals and others who wish to discuss bloodless medicine

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodless+surgery Wikipedia article Bloodless surgery.