INTRODUCTION: The correction of anaemia prior to total hip arthroplasty reduces surgical risk, hospital stay and cost. This study considers the benefits of implementing a protocol of identifying and treating pre-operative anaemia whilst the patient is on the waiting list for surgery. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From a prospective series of 322 patients undergoing elective total hip arthroplasty (THA), patients identified as anaemic (haemoglobin (Hb) < 12 g\/dl) when initially placed upon the waiting list were appropriately investigated and treated. Pre- and postoperative Hb levels, need for transfusion, and length of hospital stay were collated for the entire patient cohort. RESULTS: Of the cohort, 8.8% of patients were anaemic when initially placed upon the waiting list for THA and had a higher transfusion rate (23% versus 3%; P < 0.05) and longer hospital stay (7.5 days versus 6.6 days; P < 0.05). Over 40% of these patients responded to investigation and treatment whilst on the waiting list, showing a significant improvement in Hb level (10.1 g\/dl to 12.7 g\/dl) and improved transfusion rate. CONCLUSIONS: Quantifying the haemoglobin level of patients when initially placed on the waiting list helps highlight those at risk of requiring a postoperative blood transfusion. Further, the early identification of anaemia allows for the utilisation of the waiting-list time to investigate and treat these patients. For patients who respond to treatment, there is a significant reduction in the need for blood transfusion with its inherent hazards.\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editorial: Ann R Coll Surg Engl Fecha: 01\/09\/2008 Rogers BA, Cowie A, Alcock C, Rosson JW Acceso al enlace publicador<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/awge.doctime.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/awge.doctime.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/awge.doctime.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awge.doctime.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awge.doctime.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/awge.doctime.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":740,"href":"https:\/\/awge.doctime.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318\/revisions\/740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/awge.doctime.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awge.doctime.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awge.doctime.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}