Preoperative normovolemic hemodilution in total hip arthroplasty. A clinical study.

Pre-operative normovolemic hemodilution was used in 20 patients undergoing total hip replacement. The hematocrit was lowered to 25-30% immediately before operation. 23 patients, in whom operative blood loss was replaced with bank blood, served as a control group. In the hemodilution group the amount of homologous blood transfusions was reduced with 50% compared to the control group. There was no significant difference in clinical complications between the two groups. The technique is simple and the increase in anaesthesia and operation time only about 20 min.