Word: hematocrit
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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While donor blood alone may not be directly responsible for this added risk, those percentages had already been disturbing enough to persuade physicians to change what is known as their transfusion trigger. As a rule, they introduced donated blood as soon as the patient's hematocrit--a measure of the proportion of the blood made up of oxygen-carrying red cells--fell below the normal range of 45%-55%. Lately, however, they have begun waiting until it drops to less than 30% before transfusing...
...makes this revised standard look all the smarter. "There is still a lot of controversy about the trigger," says Dr. Lynne Uhl, a transfusion specialist at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston. "But the growing data have reinforced the practice that it's O.K. to let the patient's hematocrit drop lower before transfusing...
Blood transfusions alone may not be directly responsible for these health hazards, but data from other recent studies have been enough to convince physicians to change their so-called transfusion trigger. Doctors have traditionally waited until the patient's hematocrit - the proportion of the blood made up of red blood cells - drops below the normal range of 45% to 55% before transfusing. Now, doctors prefer to wait longer, until it falls below 30%. "There is still a lot of controversy about the trigger," says Dr. Lynne Uhl, a transfusion specialist at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, "but the growing data...