Local infusion of norepinephrine reduces blood losses and need of transfusion in total knee arthroplasty
Blood loss after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is often associated with cardiovascular complications and a high transfusion rate of allogenic blood. In our study we focused our attention on developing a new intra-surgical procedure that appears safe, easy to perform and effective in the reduction of...
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Published in | International orthopaedics Vol. 30; no. 4; pp. 253 - 256 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Germany
Springer-Verlag
01.08.2006
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Blood loss after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is often associated with cardiovascular complications and a high transfusion rate of allogenic blood. In our study we focused our attention on developing a new intra-surgical procedure that appears safe, easy to perform and effective in the reduction of bleeding in TKA. We evaluated 84 patients who underwent TKA and met our inclusion criteria; they were assigned to two groups: 55 controls in which a saline solution was used to wash the surgical field before tourniquet release, and a second group of 29 patients, in which a saline solution containing a low dose of norepinephrine was locally applied before tourniquet release. The local administration of a low dose of norepinephrine has induced a significant reduction of perioperative blood loss and blood transfusion requirements; in addition, this method was characterised by the absence of complications or adverse effects. In conclusion, our data suggest that intraoperative local administration of a low dose of norepinephrine could represent an effective and safe method of reducing blood loss and preventing blood transfusions in patients with TKA. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0341-2695 1432-5195 |
DOI: | 10.1007/s00264-005-0050-2 |