Preoperative Transfusion Beneficial for Patients with Sickle-Cell Disease

Patients with sickle-cell disease who undergo surgical procedures are prone to infection, pain crisis, acute chest syndrome, and other adverse effects. Preoperative transfusion might reduce risks for these complications because it raises the hemoglobin concentration and decreases the proportion of sickle hemoglobin, but the evidence supporting this practice is meager.

To examine whether preoperative transfusions are beneficial in this setting, investigators in Europe and Canada conducted a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial involving 67 sickle-cell patients undergoing abdominal surgery (34%); ear, nose, and throat surgery (24%); orthopedic surgery (15%); other medium-risk surgery (8%); or low-risk surgery (19%). In the 34 patients ran…