Blood transfusions are a risk for patients. Patient blood management helps avoid the need for them. With the support of the USZ Foundation, Donat Spahn, Director of the Department of Anesthesiology, is setting up a range of training courses on this topic. He has now been able to show in a study that patients benefit from endeavors to reduce transfusions even if these measures are applied only shortly before surgery.
For several years already physicians at University Hospital Zurich have been using gentle surgical techniques to reduce the need for blood transfusions. Patients can be treated for anemia or iron deficiency before planned operations. A new study conducted under Donat Spahn’s leadership has now shown that such measures help avoid the need for transfusions even if they’re applied only very shortly before surgery.
With support from the USZ Foundation, Professor Spahn has created a series of training courses designed to build an international network and inform young doctors and decisionmakers all over the world about new approaches to avoiding transfusions.
The findings of Professor Spahn’s study (in German)
More about the USZ Foundation’s project on patient blood management