[A case of aorto-coronary bypass in Jehovah's Witness].

An aorto-coronary bypass grafting was performed in a 50 year-old man, a Jehovah's Witness, suffering from effort angina pectoris. Preoperatively, he was underwent PTCA for LAD occlusion, which failed. Single aorto-coronary bypass grafting using IMA was performed under the extracorporeal circulation primed with Ringer's Lactate and albumin. Moderate hypothermia with core temperature of 31.5 degrees C was used, and minimal level of the hematocrit was 18% during the perfusion. At the start of the operation, 800 ml of blood were withdrawn from the jugular vein to the blood bag which connected to a peripheral venous line uninterruptedly. During the operation, the autologous blood was continuously transfused very slowly and most of the autologous blood was transfused after the termination of extracorporeal circulation. The blood in the extracorporeal circuit was hemoconcentrated with ECUM (extracorporeal ultrafiltration method) from hematocrit level 22% to 35% and transfused. The postoperative course was uneventful. At the time of discharge from hospital on the 42nd postoperative day the hemoglobin level was 13.1 g/dl and hematocrit level was 42%.