Bloodless Medicine

As we plan your procedure, we will select the least invasive approach appropriate for your condition to minimize damage to tissues and reduce the amount of blood loss.

• The amount of blood drawn for testing before and after surgery will be minimized through micro-sampling, eliminating wasted blood.
• Intravenous and oral iron therapy can help prepare the anemic patient for surgery
• Erythropoiesis-stimulating agents are administered up to four weeks in advance to stimulate your own red blood cell production to help counteract potential future blood loss.
• Vitamins and nutritional supplements that increase the blood’s ability to carry oxygen may be an option for some patients. These drugs and supplements, when taken before surgery, can increase the number of red blood cells, which help your body handle blood loss more effectively.
• Stop Smoking – Smoking decreases the levels of oxygen that are delivered to your body. During a bloodless surgery, oxygen delivery is crucial. So speak to your doctor about quitting smoking.

Our goal during surgery is to prevent or minimize bleeding, and to recover any blood that is lost so that it can be put back into the patient’s bloodstream.

• A technique called “acute hemodilution” allows us to dilute the blood in the operating room, at the beginning of the procedure, so that when blood is lost, the impact on the body is lessened.
• Minimally invasive surgery and meticulous surgical techniques utilizing the da Vinci and Mako robots:
  • Surgical instruments and techniques specially designed to minimize blood loss by using the smallest or most efficient incisions.
• Special anesthesia techniques can minimize bleeding by safely lowering blood pressure.
• The harmonic scalpel, advanced electrocautery, and laser are used to cut tissue while clotting the blood almost immediately, will substantially reduce blood loss.
• Advanced topical, and intravenous hemostatics (products that stop bleeding by stabilizing clot) can be used before, during, and after surgery.
• An Intraoperative cell salvage machine, a device that collects lost blood, washes it, and allows us to return it back to the patient, can be used to maintain healthy blood volume without transfusions.

• Certain medications can be used to stimulate the body’s ability to produce red blood cells after surgery.
• Hyperbaric Chamber: increases oxygen concentration in the blood
• Micro sampling techniques can substantially reduce the amount of blood lost due to routine blood testing after surgery. In some cases, this method of blood conservation reduces blood loss from testing by 90 percent.