Program for Jehovah’s Witness Patients Reduces Overall Blood Use

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 20 (HealthDay News) — A transfusion-free surgical program developed for Jehovah’s Witness patients reduced the use of blood products in other patients, according to a new study.

The University of Southern California (USC) developed a transfusion-free program for Jehovah’s Witnesses undergoing liver transplantation in January 2000.

For this study, published in the September issue of the Archives of Surgery, researchers from the INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City, Okla., and colleagues analyzed the medical records of 272 non-Jehovah’s Witness patients who were undergoing liver transplantations at USC.

Compared with the patients who had surgery before the transfusion-free program was developed, those who had surgery after the program’s initiation were significantly less likely to receive certain types of blood transfusions.

Scores on the model of end-stage liver disease (MELD) test were significantly higher in the patients having surgery after the program was developed. The MELD score describes the survival probability in people with liver disease, with higher scores indicating sicker patients.

“The development of a transfusion-free surgical program for Jehovah’s Witness patients has had a positive impact on reducing the overall blood use in non-Jehovah’s Witness patients,” the authors noted.

According to the authors, the program decreases some of the complications of transfusions, such as transmission of unknown pathogens, and also helps to preserve blood bank resources, which reduces the overall cost of the procedure.

Read Another Article

French woman jailed in Canada for abducting children about to give birth
New Zealand PM hints at more revelations on Brethren

Related News Articles Topic(s): Jehovah's Witnesses Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com Jehovah's Witnesses Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Kent Hovind: Evangelist arrested on federal charges Beast’s real mark devalued to ’616′ Muslim Woman Gives Sex Advice on Arab TV Michael Jackson Confirms Conversion to Islam Kent Hovind, ‘Dr. Dino,’ guilty on all counts The fall and rise of Carlton Pearson Search False prophet Harold Camping sets another date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Watch the film Theo van Gogh was murdered for Kent Hovind — Dr. Dino — sentenced to 10 years in prison

Search Religion News Blog