Pre-operative blood volume in surgical cancer patients.

In order to aid intra-operative management, blood volume was measured in eighteen pre-operative surgical patients who had clinical and/or radiological diagnosis of various forms of malignancy, using the 'Volemetron' and radio-iodinated human serum albumin (RIHSA). After correction for F-cell ratio, the plasma volume and red cell volume were derived. In both sexes, the mean values of total blood volume, plasma volume and red cell volume were not significantly different from those of non-cancer patients. But mean values/kg. body weight in males were significantly higher than their non-cancer counterparts. The total blood volume/kg. in each cancer-patient who had lost weight was higher than the mean value/kg. in the non-cancer patients in both sexes. From this study, there appears to be a trend for patients with malignancy to have higher blood volumes than patients without; this difference reaches significant level if weight loss has occurred. Replacement of blood loss during surgery should probably err on the generous side in such patients.